Glory's Long Road: Paths To Victory
by HakkinTaka
Summary: Persuing a dream of shildhood, a young Erik Iverson strives to become the best of the best. But the road is long, and hard. Can Erik face the challenges that await him, and find the true meaning of "glory?"
1. Episode #00 "Prologue"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #00 "Prologue"  
  
CBS, Newfoundland  
  
  
"Oh, and this looks like the end for Uindii, caught up in the coils of Gayarados." The massive blue serpent blasted an amber beam at the helpless black striped dog, wrapped up. The struggling of the Windie continue as the stream of energy washed over it.  
  
A young woman leant over a chesterfield, watching the image on the television screen. On the floor in front of the screen, was young boy of about 5, watching the battle unfold. So concentrated was he on the match, he hardly noticed her approach until she spoke. "Still watching those old tapes son?" The boy's blue hair rustled as he turned around to his mother. She smiled warmly at his childhood innocense.  
  
"Yah mom." He replied enthusiastically.  
  
"Hon, why don't you go outside with other boys. It's such a fine today, too good to spend inside." The blue haired boy slowly arose from up off the floor and clicks off the VCR. As he left, he turned around to his mother. "Mom, someday I'll be on tv, just like those big boys." And with that, he ran to the door, and to the world outside. His mother walked over to the kitchen window, just over the sink, and watching her son play out in the backyard. Long blue strands lightly move in the gentle breeze from the window. From behind her, strong arms wrapped themselves around her slender waist. "He's quite a boy, isn't he?"  
  
"He is. It still hurts me though every time he talks about becoming a trainer." Her voice was filled with sorrow, caused by the unobtainable dreams of her son. "That's something he has to learn about life dear."  
  
"Erik, that's all he wants to be." She pleaded to her husband, trying to sway his decision. He finally gives in to her requests. "Well, I'll see what I can do for him Gillian."  
  
*************  
  
One month later  
  
  
Erik's mother stood over a bowl, mixing up the batter for a cake, when Erik dashed by, on his way out the door. "Erik, could you come here for a minute." He stopped putting on his shoes, and glanced into the kitchen "Yes mom?" She knelt down to her son, apron bunching up as she does so. Behind her back, she held something out of sight. "Remember your birthday son?"  
  
Hanging his head, Erik replied. "Yes..." Without fail, each year for his birthday and Christmas gift, all he wanted was a single pokemon, of any sort or description. It just had to be a pokemon he could call his own. But every year, he was let down. This year however...  
  
Gillian brought out her arm from behind her back, revealing a ten centimeter orb, wrapped in a silver foil. "Here."  
  
"Is... that...?" Overjoyed, Erik struggled to get his words out.  
  
"Yes, it is. The town chipped in and bought it from the States. We planned to have it in time from your birthday, but things happened in the mail."  
  
He took the ball from Gillian's hand, and hugs his mother. "I don't mind mom."  
  
"Why don't you open it and see who you got." Erik toor off the wrapping and released the contents of the pokeball, as if expecting world to end the very next second. The red energy materialized into a small sandy coloured armadillo. It stared at Erik through black eyes and spoke it's name once. "Sanddo?"  
  
"It's so neat, thanks mom."  
  
"Don't thank me son, thank everyone."  
  
"Ok, I do that. Come on Sanddo!" Now followed by Sanddo, he couldn't move fast enough to pull his shoes on, and go out to thank the town. Gillian finally got back up, just in time to see Erik and Sanddo dash past the kitchen window. "He's truly happy know." She thought to herself.   
  
*************  
  
Two Years Later  
  
  
Erik fell back into the rain moistened blades of grass, exhausted from the training for the day. Sanddo too joined him by his side, as the two watch the grey wisps of fog roll in from the ocean. The pair had been together for two years, but both felt as if they had spent a lifetime with each other.  
  
For the past two years, everyday after-school, Erik had a single routine: Rush home from school, and train with Sanddo until either sun-down or when they became to tired to continue. Before, the two couldn't make it to half past six. But, it was already nearing nine o'clock by Erik's watch. All the time, trainer and pokemon were growing, both physically and mentally.  
  
In another three years time, Erik would be old enough to obtain his trainer license. At that time, he and Sanddo would travel away to compete in a pokemon league. His mother had no problems with allowing Erik to leave home, and his father had picked up a good construction contract over in Europe, so money was also no problem.  
  
Afar in the distance, a bolt of thunder struck to the ground, generating a wave of sound that was heard a while afterwards. The dark grey thunderclouds open up, dropping a great drenching downpour of rainwater. Heavy beads of cold rain felt refreshing, hitting sweaty skin. The aches of a hard day of training vanished under the beating action the rain. As quickly as it came, the rain slacked off to a light drizzle, stopping entirely. Erik shoke his soaked hair, getting some of the water out of it, inspiring Sanddo to do the same.  
  
Downpours such as this barely fazed the ground type pokemon, which were normally weak to the element of water. Having lived in a damp and cold marine climate however, gave Sanddo a moderate resistance to the normal weak points of ground: Ice and Water. A resistance to such attacks could prove useful in combat.  
  
Erik stood back up, planning on getting a change of clothes, and returning to training in the last moments of daylight. He ventured back to the house, but stopped halfway, as Sanddo wasn't behind him. Where Erik had left him, the small armadillo pokemon stood, motionless, awaiting something. An evolution perhaps? Erik had read up on events like this before, but had never actually seen a pokemon go to its next stage. The body of the Sanddo began to glow with a white energy, and rapidly changed shape. Jagged quills grew from its back, and knife-like claws took the place of small hands. Light receedes, revealing the new stage, Sandopan.  
  
Erik's face lit up at his pokemon's evolution. Words could not express how happy he felt now. Getting out the wet clothes could wait, he wanted to get back to training, this time, with Sandopan.  
  
*************  
  
Three years later  
  
  
"What do you mean I can't go?" Erik burst out, half a cry at the fact he can't leave to go on his pokemon journey.  
  
His mother does her best to calm him "Erik, I'm sorry."  
  
"It's just no fair..."  
  
"There just isn't enough money to send you. Its not easy to support you and your sister on my own. It would be different," Gillian stops for a moment. "...if your father was still alive..."  
  
Let down, he barely mumbled. "I understand mom..."  
  
"You do..." Mother hugs her son, at the fact that he accepted the truth. "Erik, you're such a mature young man. Don't you worry, I'm sure that you'll live out your dream."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"Uhh..." She stuttered a bit before smiling in her usual manner. "Promise."  
  
*************  
  
Five years later  
St. John's, NF  
  
  
The air of the room smelt heavily of antiseptics, the usual scent of a hospital. The odours always Erik hated, even more so now. He was now fifteen, dark blue hair grown out a bit from the crew cut of his childhood. In a small wooden chair he sat, next to a single white hospital bed, where his mother laid, death looming over. Her eyes appeared sunken back, with the skin ghostly pale and pulled taught. Only her sapphire hair remained as the last remnants of her once radiant beauty. "Erik, I'm..." Her voice dry and weak barely permitted her to speak with her son. Erik knew what she was saying though.  
  
"I know... don't speak more than you have to."  
  
But this was something she had to speak, something that had to be done while she could. "I want you to hear this before I die." Erik's mother breathed in deeply. Even the act of talking became labourious, yet she still continued on. "Erik, you've always been so strong willed, just like your father was. Ever since you were young, you had a dream, and every problem you had to face just made your determination that much greater. Son, I'm very proud of you. Take your inheritance, and go out on you journey that you were denied the last five years."  
  
To his mother, on her deathbed, made a solemn and eternal promise. "Don't worry mom. I'll become the best trainer the world has ever known. I won't disappoint you."  
  
A usual smirk grew across her face. For the last time. "Erik, how could you ever... disappoint me..." Slowly her eyes draw shut, accompanied by the horrible silence. Erik lowered his forehead to the back of his mother's hand, as the tears began to flow and stream down his face...  
  
*************  
  
One Week Later  
  
  
Standing in the doorway to a medium sized split level, Erik awaited the arrival of his ride across the island. His sister approached from behind. Stands of dark purple hair wet with fresh tears from green eyes. "Are you leaving soon Erik?" She spoke, not wanting her older brother to leave. Once slowly he nodded. As if to keep him from leaving, Andrea wrapped her arms around him, crying into his shoulder. "Don't go away Erik."  
  
It was always painful to see her like this. Brother and sister were very close to each other, sharing almost none of the stereotypical 'sibling rivalry'. "Don't worry Andrea, I'm not going away forever. You'll see me someday, maybe even on tv." Erik tells her, trying to reassure Andrea. Words finally ceased the flow of tears, as Andrea burst out. "Really?"  
  
"Really. Now you be a good girl and listen to Aunt Teresa and Uncle Max while I'm gone, alright?"  
  
Once more did her arms squeeze around him, this time in a show of affection. "Alright." A blue VW van rolled into the driveway, though the old diesel engine was heard blocks way. His aunt emerged from upstairs, with a last farewell. "Erik, before you leave, I have something to give you." Andrea finally relinquished her hold on him. "What is it?" He asked.  
  
"It's something your father got when he was your age." She passed him a small ring box, in which Erik opens it up, revealing a sapphire ring. He took the ring out, and holding by two fingers, gazing at it. This was the closest thing Erik had to his father. Even though he never rarely around, his inspiration was. Feeling of his father come back as he slipped the ring onto a finger. "He meant to give it to you himself."  
  
"Things happen the way they should Aunt."  
  
"They do." She steps over to Erik. "You should be going."  
  
Erik lightly hugged his aunt. "I should. See you later then." He grabbed his packsack, and walked out to the van, but not before waving his last goodbyes.  
  
*************  
  
One Day Later  
Port-Aux-Basques Harbour  
  
  
The shoreline of the island Erik called home slowly faded from view, obscured by a veil of fog. Sanddoopan peered nervously through the iron railings, somewhat unnerved by the expanse of water. "Well, this seems like a good-bye for a while to our home." Erik says to his pokemon. Sandopan understood the full meaning of the words just spoken, and replied with his name, though touched with feelings of sadness.  
  
Erik knelt down to his pokemon. Pooled water on the metal deck wet spots on Erik's pants. "But I know with you but my side, we'll come back victorious."  
  
Simple words of encouragement restore life to Sandopan. Rising a claw into the air, he shouted with usual vigor. "Sanddo!"  
  
"That's the spirit." Erik turned to have one last look at his home through the wisps of fog. 'I will keep my promise, no matter what.'  
  
  
End Episode #00  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
Translations  
Uindii = Arcanine  
Gayarodosu = Gyarados  
Sanddo = Sandshrew  
Sandopan = Sandslash 


	2. Episode #01 "From Humble Beginnings..."

Stratovarius - Against The Wind  
Once again I tried to make things work  
Facing all the power of society  
Searching all the answers of the life  
I'll never make it on my own.  
Was I meant to fail every time?  
Seems to me that's my destiny  
Is it all that's left for me  
Confusion and bad memories?  
  
But now my time has come  
No more running in the dark  
I want much more than this  
I really want it all.  
  
Chorus  
Against the wind we run  
To every place under the sun  
We got so much power inside  
We will never give up.  
Against the wind we go  
Towards the new shore  
Together we forget the sorrow  
It's forever gone.  
  
Glory's Long Road: Episode #01 "From Humble Beginnings..."  
  
The air of the ferry's old dining hall smelt, or reeked, of cigarette smoke and sea salt. Nearly all of the seats and tables of the hall were taken up. The only exception: Once across from Erik. Resting chin in palm, he contemplated a few of minor issues that still remained. Beside Erik is Sandopan, tucked up into a spiny ball of quills, rocking in time with the list of the boat.  
  
"Mind if I sit here?" A voice drew Erik from his thoughts. He glanced up to see a young man, around seventeen. The youth was rather ill-dressed, noticeable by the faded denim jacket, and faded everything else. Shags of unkempt black hair protrude from under a trucker's cap. At least he was somebody to have a conversation with.  
  
"No, don't mind." The teen sat down in the only empty chair, laying a red plastic tray on the tabletop. "Thanks. It's hard as hell to find a place to sit down and eat during lunch." Erik passed on a warning as the teen goes to eat his sandwich. "Food's not the greatest though."  
  
"What do you mean?" With one bite, his face, for an instant, became devoid of colour. Forcing himself to, he swallowed the vile food. "Never mind. I see what you mean." He tossed the sandwich back onto the tray, and slid it away. His eyes take note of the still napping Sandopan. "Is that your pokemon in the chair beside you?"  
  
"Yes he is."  
  
"Where'd you get him? Sanddo and Sandopan aren't native to these parts."  
  
"My hometown bought him from the States for my birthday." The untidy teen's eyebrows jumped up slightly. "You mean, you weren't just given one like most beginning trainers?"  
  
"Nope. The nearest place that gave out pokemon was St. John's, almost an hours drive from where I lived."  
  
"I see."  
  
"Did you get one?"  
  
"Sure did. Had to wait a long time to get him though." He removed a pokeball from inside his jacket, and released the contents onto the now vacant chair beside him. From the energy, a Arigeizu took form. He rubbed it's sizable jaw, taking pride in it's destructive potential. "Looks tough." Erik complimented. "He is. Arigeizu here has won me a good few fights. I think he'll soon be evolving as well."  
  
"His adult from, Oudairu, should be an even better fighter, given his high attack and defense ratings."  
  
"Never knew that."  
  
"You didn't?"  
  
He shook his head, admitting to a slight case of ignorance. "I just heard people say he was really good. Guess I know why now." He stopped for a moment. "Never got your name."  
  
"It's Erik Iverson."  
  
"Nice to meet you Erik. I'm Guy Mares." The two trainers sook the other's hand, a sure sign of respect. "Where you going to anyway?"  
  
"I'm about to start collecting badges."  
  
"Down to Halifax I take it."  
  
"One of the gyms is down there, right?"  
  
"Yes. But it's a water gym. That'll be a problem for your Sandopan."  
  
"I'll manage to work something out."  
  
"Hope you do."  
  
"Don't worry. I've waited too long just to lose."  
  
Just as Erik finished up what he has to say, the captain of the ferry cut in over the PA system. "Your attention please. We are about to arrive at North Sydney harbour. Owners of vehicles are asked to return to them, and await for disembarking."  
  
"Say Erik, do you need a ride down to Halifax?"  
  
"Wouldn't mind one."  
  
"Alright then, let's go."  
  
*************  
  
Several Hours Later  
Halifax Waterfront  
  
  
A dull, not to mention loud, blue Mustang slowed to a stop. Guy stepped out to allow Erik and Sandopan to get out from the back seat. "There you are." Guy pointed to a large group of people over beside a building on the waterfront. "The gym here usually sponsors a small tournament for the trainers. Mostly there's just beginners, but there are a few older trainers. And the payout is alright too."  
  
"Thanks man."  
  
"No problem." Guy tipped the peak his hat as he got back into the car. "See you at the Blue League, if you make it in time."  
  
Erik reassured him on possibility of them meeting again. "I'll be there." He walkd over to the ever growing crowd as Guy's Mustang pelt away in a screech of tyres and cloud of smoke. A small table is their destination. The woman greeted them with a smile, pen in hand to sign them up for the tournament. "Here for the tournament son?"  
  
"Yes ma'am."  
  
"Name and pokemon please."  
  
"Erik Iverson, and I have a Sandopan."  
  
"Just one?" She replies, just a bit shocked.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"I just thought it a little odd that someone your age would have only have one pokemon." She wrote down the information, and handed Erik a slip of paper with a number onto it. "We'll announce when your fight is next."  
  
"Thanks." He said as he took the number. To pass the time before the match, Erik and Sandopan walked over to the edge of the docks, to get a good view of the schooners used for ocean tours. "This is where it all begins."  
  
"Pan."  
  
"From humble beginnings, the road to glory starts." Sandopan gazed up at him. Erik looks down and smiled, rubbing his pokemon's forehead. "Don't worry though, we'll make it to the end of that road together." Sandopan nods.  
  
A loudspeaker crackled, attached to one of the nearby light poles. "Next up: #46 vs. #39." Erik takes glance at his number, #46.  
  
"That's us Sandopan."  
  
*************  
  
A crowd of spectators formed a square opening around chalk lines marked on the asphalt. Erik and Sandopan stood at one end, while a young boy stood at the opposite end. Throwing out a pokeball, the boy shouted. "Go Katerupii." The small green caterpillar materialized near the center of the ring. "Take it away Sandopan." Sandopan marched out to the center of the ring, claws held high. The two pokemon stared each other down until the word 'Go.'  
  
"Katerupii, String Shot." The worm released a thin white thread of silk. Sandopan held up its right claw, allowing the silk to wrap around it. With a quick lift and a drop of the entwined claw, Sandopan snapped the Katerupii around like a whip, slamming it into the hard ground.  
  
Hauling back his right claw, Sandopan reeled in the dazed worm, before striking it away with the back of the left claw. The force of the blow snaps the fine filament, allowing Katerupii to limply hit the ground, and slid to a stop in front of Mikey. The boy recalled his pokemon and quickly left. Sandopan strode back to Erik, all smiles over his first victory.  
  
"Don't be too confident now. It was only a Katerupii."  
  
"Pan."  
  
"You're right there. May it be the first of many."  
  
*************  
  
Late Afternoon  
  
  
"And this has been an exciting tournament. We are now ready for the last match of the day, between Erik and local champion, Joe." The announcer stated, getting the crowd ready for the final match. The two combatants stoodd at the opposite ends of the ring.  
  
"I've been seeing what you're doing. Takes a *real* trainer to do that, beating up on kids."  
  
"It's within the rules. Besides, It'll only toughen them up a bit."  
  
"Whatever." He threw out a pokeball. "Teach 'em a lesson Sutoraiku." The red energy formed a tall mantis like pokemon, scraping it's blades together with a dull metallic shriek.  
  
'Sutoraiku, quick but lacking defense.' Erik reminded himself of prior knowledge as Sandopan marched out to meet the mantis.  
  
"Sutoraiku, won't even take a hit from your slow Sandopan." A grin crept across Joe's face. "Fury Swipes." The insect pokemon quickly zipped forward, slashing its scythes in a berserk fashion. The sharp clicks of clashing cuticle resound each time Sandopan blocked Sutoraiku's attack. Halting its attack, Sutoraiku flapped its wings once, quickly moving back. "Slash Attack." Sandopan made a powerful lunge, swiping its left claw. Again, Sutoraiku fell back. "Not bad. But try to keep up with this. Sutoraiku, Double Team." Possessing cat-like quickness, Sutoraiku began jumping around at an extreme speed, creating multiple images of itself. Sandopan held his ground, watching the flickering images.  
  
"Cut Attack!" Sandopan's ears twitch once, detecting a faint rush of wind, and spun around, left claw held out. This claw pierced into Sutoraiku's side, tearing a red line through flesh. Impaled partially onto the nail, Sutoraiku hung in mid-air, mouth open, and blades held high. Sandopan ripped the claw out, dragging with it a few drops of red blood. He quickly jumped up, and with a hard spin kick, slamming Sutoraiku into the pavement. The mantis made no effort to return to combat. Joe recalled his Sutoraiku.  
  
"Good job Sandopan." Erik said, as he walked out to his pokemon.  
  
Joe remained confused as to how he lost the match in such a short length of time. "How did he manage to do that?" Erik explained to Joe just what happened. "Sandopan heard your Sutoraiku just before it struck."  
  
"I see. Have to work on that sound problem then. Thanks for the tip..." Pokeball and pointer in hand, Joe disappeared into the crowd.  
  
*************  
  
Twilight  
  
  
Erik and Sandopan sat on the edge of a pier, legs dangling off the salt encrusted lumber. Quietly, Erik thumbed through a bundle of bills. "Not bad for a days work." Sandopan agrees in his own little way. Pocketing the cash, Erik stood back up, wiping the accumulated dirt off the back of his pants. "I'd say we should get some rest. Tomorrow's going to be a hard day." With the stars beginning to shine bright above, Sandopan and Erik strode down the pier.  
  
  
End Episode #01  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
Free Style Battle (FSB) - Erik's main and trademark style of combat. FSB relies on the pokemon's own ability to fight, as it receives very little in the line of orders. But by doing so, reaction times are cut, which can, and often does, determine success and failure. FSB becomes more and more common as the fic goes on.  
  
Translations  
Arigeizu = Croconaw  
Oudairu = Feralligator  
Katerupii (?) = Caterpie  
Sutoraiku = Scyther  
  
Ending Song:  
Stratovarius - Hunting High And Low  
I feel the wind in my hair  
And it's whispering, telling me things  
Of the storm that is gathering near  
full of power, I'm spreading my wings  
  
Now I'm leaving my worries behind  
Feel the freedom of body and mind  
I have started my journey  
I'm drifting away with the wind I go  
  
I am hunting high and low  
Diving from the sky above  
Looking for, more and more, once again  
I´m hunting high and low  
Sometimes I may win, sometimes I´ll lose  
It´s just a game that I play  
  
After the storm there´s a calm  
Through the clouds shines a ray of the sun  
I am carried from all of my harm  
There is no-one that I can't outrun  
  
Now I´m leaving my worries behind  
Feel the freedom of body and mind  
I have started my journey,  
I'm drifting away with the wind I fly  
  
I am hunting high and low  
Diving from the sky above  
Looking for, more and more, once again  
I´m hunting high and low  
Sometimes I may win, sometimes I´ll lose  
It´s just a game that I play 


	3. Episode #02 "First Trial"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #02 "First Trial"  
  
With a new day just begun, Erik and Sandopan stood together outside a rather large building. A row of marble pillars lead to a door, a few metres away. The sun's rays caught the minerals in the rock columns at a low angle, giving them a glistening appearance. The hedgehog glanced upward, wondering why they had not proceeded in yet. "Sand?" Erik looked down, seeing Sandopan pointing a claw at the door to the gym. "Just needs a second to get ready." Erik took a single deep breath, an attempt to sedate his nerves. "Let's go." And with that, the two proceeded down the row of marble pillars to the door. Lightly pushing it open, Erik and Sandopan stepped into the gym, greeted only by the smell of chlorine in the air. The gym area is empty, except for two girls standing by the pool.  
  
One was a fairly tall blonde, hair to her shoulders, dressed in regular blue jeans and a green top. The other was somewhat shorter, with her long purple hair in a ponytail. She wore a black swimsuit, which had an amethyst sarong wrapped around her waist. The blonde took notice of Erik's entrance.  
  
"Hmm, somebody's here early."  
  
"Indeed." The purple haired girl mentioned back. "You here for a battle?"  
  
"Yes I am." Erik answered, stopping at the edge of the pool. The blonde stepped beside the other woman, to whisper in her ear. "Angela, you notice what he has?" She did her best to keep her voice down. "It's kinda hard not to Lise."  
  
"Don't you think it would be a tad harsh to simply blow this guy away?" Angela twirled several strands of long purple hair around her finger. "You're right, especially when he's so cute with his blue hair and all." Her sister blankly stared at her for that last remark. "What?!"  
  
"Nothing." Erik interrupted into the conversation of the two sisters, "Umm, ladies?"  
  
"Sorry about that." Angela apologized. She looked out over the pool. "Carlie, come here for a minute!" A few moments passed before a young girl, around 12, broke the surface of the water, and climbed out of the pool. Her orange hair clung to her wet skin. "Yah sis?" Lise pointed to Erik. "This guy here wants to have a battle, and we'd thought we would leave it up to you."  
  
"Really!" Her elder sister nodded in agreement. "Alright. How does a one on one sound to you?"  
  
"Perfectly fine." Sandopan began to sharpen his claws against one another, anticipating the rush of battle. "Ok." Carlie clapped her hands twice. "Satarumii, come out." From the pool behind her, a purple Satarumii burst from under the surface of the water. Slowly, it floated down beside its trainer. As the two step aside for the battle, Lise shouted out to her little sister. "Get ready for this." Carlie nodded, signaling Lise to start up a stopwatch. "Go!"  
  
Taking the opening attack, Erik issued first orders. "Slash." Sandopan lunged inward, left claw drawn back. "Dive back into the water." At the last possible moment, Satarumii dropped back into the pool. Skidding on the wet concrete, the hedgehog barely came to a halt. Uneasily, he teetered on the edge, nearly falling into the water. This isn't good. Erik cursed to himself.  
  
"Knock him in with a Swift." Satarumii shot out of the water once more, and firing a volley of stars from its central core. Sandopan regained its balance in time to step back from the edge, and block a few stars from the poorly aimed Swift. He stopped for a moment, looking at the distant Satarumii. Touching claw tips together, he forged off a small orb of yellow-green energy. From this, he fired a burst of stars. The tightly packed Swift slams into Satarumii, each hit knocking it back slightly.  
  
Carlie decided on a change of strategy. "Come in and finish this with a Water Jet." Satarumii flew toward Sandopan, who steped back further away from the pool. The purple starfish stopped a quarter metre from its target, and beginning to spin around. Turning back on, Sandopan shut his quills, laying them flat to his back, as spinning seastar unleashed a quick barrage of water shots.  
  
"That's it." From the sidelines, Lise encouraged Carlie on. Satarumii slowly stopped its rotation. With a slight amount of spray, Sandopan returned his quills back to their normal positions. He turned back to face Satarumii.  
  
"It survived the attack?" Angela got out, stunned as the assault continued. Sandopan jumped up, slashing a thin cross into the red crystal. On the descent down, the hedgehog carved two more deep parallel grooves, dragging the floating star down. Staemii attempted to move away, but is met with a shattering roundhouse. The force of the impact crushed its core, and tossed the star out into the pool, landing with a splash. Angela quickly recalled the fainted Satarumii for her sister. Lise showed Angela the stopwatch, not quite believing the time given. "Only a minute five to win. He's good."  
  
"Definitely." Angela removed a small blue hexagon-shaped badge off her sarong and tossed it over to Erik, who caught it with one hand. "There's the Turquoise badge for your victory. But I would like a match, if you don't mind."  
  
"You good to go Sandopan?" Having recovered from the first battle, he quickly agreed.  
  
"Well then, Nyorozo go." Angela held out a pokeball, and released out the tadpole. "Open up with Double Slap." The tadpole darted forward, making wide swipes with open hands at Sandopan. Each time, the slaps were blocked by a forearm, but at the cost of ground lost.  
  
"Sandopan..." She cut him off. "Nyorozo, grab a hold of its arms." Using its speed, Nyorozo grasped Sandopan by the arms. Erik's pokemon attempted to struggle free, but to no avail. "Bubble Beam." The blue tadpole tilted back its head, taking in a deep breath. Sensing an opportunity, Sandopan jumped into the air. Just as Nyorozo brang his head back forward, it was met by a hard drop kick to the face. The impact broke the grip, sending the hedgehog to the ground on its back.   
  
"Finish it." Rolling off his back, Sandopan charged toward the dazed Nyorozo. Throwing his weight into the attack, Sandopan slammed the back of his left claw into the side of Nyorozo's head. This proved to be the knock out blow. Angela recalled her pokemon even before he begins to fall. "Incredible. That Sandopan just took out two water types, and shows few signs of slowing down." She glanced to her sister, looking to get her to do battle. "Hey sis, you going to have a shot."  
  
The eldest only shook her head in refusal. "Not now." Purple eyebrows rose up as Angela turned back to Erik. "Woah, you got Lise frightened. Now that's something else." Taking all this modestly, Erik downplayed the pair of wins "It's nothing, seriously." He looked to Sandopan. "We'd best be going. See you around." With that, Erik and Sandopan walk to the exit.  
  
Once Erik was out of earshot the youngest piped up. "Lise, how come you didn't fight that guy?"  
  
"No reason."  
  
"Are you sure that's the truth?" The only reply Angela got from Lise was a simple grin as she spun a pokeball on a finger.  
  
  
End Episode #02  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
Sandopan's Resistance To Water  
Normally, ground-types have a weakness to water moves. However, Sandopan has built up a partial resistance to water. Little over a decade of Newfoundland's harsh marine climate is the reason for Sandopan's partial resistance to water, as well as ice.  
  
Water Jet  
Hitodemon/ Satarumii hover in the air, and spin around, releasing numerous Water Guns. The whole attack resembles a common lawn sprinkler.  
  
Translations  
Hitodemon = Staryu  
Satarumii = Starmie  
Nyorozo = Poliwhirl 


	4. Episode #03 "Icy Greetings"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #03 "Icy Greetings"  
  
A long train wound its way through a freshly defrosted boreal forest. The lead locomotive blasted its loud air horn. The sudden noise scattered various pokemon of the forest, sending a flock of hued Poppos into the air before resettling in the evergreen trees. Sandopan peered out a window of the train car, head eagerly twitching back and forth, attempting to see every needle on the trees, as if they would soon vanish. Lulled by the rhythmic clacking and gentle bobbing, Erik slept up right on the leather covered seat. Turning to Erik, Sandopan nudged at his trainer from across the table in between the two bench seats. He tried once more, nudging slightly harder and crying his name in an excited manner. This time, Sandopan was successful in his attempt to rouse Erik from his sleep. Groggily, Erik looked toward Sandopan. The pokemon spoke its name twice more as it pointed out the window. A smile appeared across Erik's face. 'Sandopan, you're always curious about new things.' Erik thought to himself as he glanced out the window as well.  
  
'But this is also the first time I've seen this. Why am I not as interested in the scenery?' An image of his young sister came to mind, leaving Erik with an understanding of why. He, despite his age, was homesick. Nearly a week and a half into his journey, Erik found himself several hundred kilometres from a home he has never left before. He shakes it off. He knew that this day would arrive. Erik would have had to leave in order to pursue his dream, and promise, to become a true master at the art of training and raising pokemon. "Pan." Instead of its usual encouraging, voice Sandopan spoke in a tone hinting toward amazement. Erik looked toward his pokemon's pointing. In the distance, about 50 or so kilometres away, an ore refinery towered over the trees, releasing billowing clouds from smoke stacks. "That's what they call the Wabush Ore Refinery." Sandopan nodded, acknowledging the fact that those words hold significance, despite not actually understanding that significance.  
  
Erik, however, knew the significance of that refinery. The iron ore refinery was located in the city of Wabush, were his next challenge lay. From his pocket, Erik took out a small index card Guy had written up for him during the trip from Sydney to Halifax. Semi-neatly written on the card were the locations of every gym, all eight of them in the Canadian division of the Blue League. One, the Turquoise badge, was checked off. Erik's sights were set on checking off another badge, the Oxide badge.  
  
His eyes looked up from the card, to Sandopan. This was his first and only pokemon. Although he served Erik well, there was a need for more. In a decade, Sandopan had trained himself very hard for this. But Erik knew it was just too much to ask for, to have a lone pokemon bear the entirety of battles. The higher up tournaments would eventually wear him down, despite Sandopan's endurance and fighting skills. From his belt, Erik unclipped a shrunken down pokeball, one of which this aunt Teresa gave him before leaving. He rolled the tiny white and red orb in his palm. Possible pokemon he could capture with a single capture ball flood his mind as another horn blast disrupts the placid forest.  
  
*************  
  
The train disembarked from the station back to Halifax from where it came. Erik and Sandopan watched from a hill as it slowly pulled away. Shivering, Erik zipped his coat up. Springtime did not necessarily mean warm temperatures in the Labrador interior. Sandopan looked up, as if to ask, "You're cold for what reason?" Erik got up from the rock. "Shall we go?" An eager nod was his reply. The two started to walk into the forest, but not before hearing a fluttering of wings behind them. They turn around to see a Poppo, feeding on a patch of partridge berries by the rock. The bird's striking white and pale blue plumage signify it as the Arctic sub-species.  
  
Not needing any encouragement, Sandopan darted after its quarry. The Poppo takes flight in time to avoid a claw swipe. Quickly, it gained altitude. Tucking wings in, the Poppo darted down, dive bombing into Sandopan, who was expecting a more docile foe. "Give it a Sand Attack." Complying with the orders, Sandopan breathed out a cloud of dust. With a flapping of wings, Poppo dispersed the dust, only to reveal a Sandopan in mid-air, claw drawn back. Sandopan swung its left claw around, connecting with Poppo across the chest. The small bird was knocked back, but quickly regained control of its flight. Sandopan made several more jumping swipes, but wisely, the Poppo kept altitude between itself and the slashing pokemon.  
  
"Swift it down." Touching claws together, Sandopan deployed a volley of stars. A graceful barrel roll moved Poppo out of the Swift's path. Going from that roll, the bird pokemon banked, zipped over Sandopan's head, and stopped in mid-air as it performed a hairpin turn. Before Sandopan can turn around to face the Poppo, the bird had already begun to flap its wings at a high velocity, forming a swirling mass of artificial snow and ice.  
  
To caught up in generating a localized flurry, the Poppo failed to notice a rapidly descending stick, until it struck. Immediately, the snow cyclone subsided, showing Sandopan lightly dusted with ice, holding a long stick in its claws. Realizing it was in over its head, the Poppo made a break for the woods. Sandopan rushed ahead of the injured Poppo and jumped into a tree. Using the tree like a springboard, Sandopan kicked off of it, gaining further height. Bringing the stick down like a sword, Sandopan connected once again.  
  
Erik took a pokeball of his belt, enlarged the ball and threw it at Poppo. Both Sandopan and the pokeball land on the ground at the same time. A single dong resounded from the ball, indicating a successful capture. Sandopan picked up the ball, and carried it over to Erik. "Thanks." Erik reached down, took the ball, and attached it to his belt. "Good job." Sandopan looked back with his usual exuberant glint in his eye.  
  
*************  
  
A small camp fire illuminated a freshly set up camp site. Erik sat by the fire, simply holding a pokeball, watching its reflection from the fire light. Sandopan sat nearby, pruning its quills. In the distance, the nighttime howling of Lupus pierce through the cold night air. Erik released the newly captured Poppo onto his shoulder. The small bird stretched out a wing before chirping loudly. Erik held up a small blueberry to Poppo. Now calmed down, Poppo gently took the berry from Erik's fingers. Another Lupus howl split the night, scaring each of the three to some degree. Sandopan turned to the woods, claws held to the side in a usual intimidation pose.  
  
"Easy there Sandopan. Those wolves won't come around here." Sandopan made a hurried pointing motion to the edge of the forest. Erik turned around to see ice wolves enter in from the shadows, led by an equally large female. "Oh dammit." The female shook her head once to the right and once to the left, ordering the two to spread out. Sandopan jumped in front of Erik, claws drawn across his face and quills fully flared. The female bared fangs and lunges. A quick sidestep avoided the attack, as Sandopan batted the wolf across the muzzle with the back of a claw. Again the Lupus lunged at Sandopan, this time with her front paws raised. The strike knocked Sandopan over, but a tuck and roll saved Erik's pokemon from being caught under the female Lupus. Uncurling from this ball, Sandopan rose back to his feet and rushed back to attack.  
  
Meanwhile, the two males slowly made their way toward Erik, eyes half open and white canines exposed. Poppo took off from Erik's shoulder, hovering behind him. Quickly, she generated a dust could around Erik. He felt a tug at his hair from Poppo. Erik stepped out of the dust cloud, leaving the charging hounds free to blindly run into each other.  
  
As the two wolves got back up, Poppo landed a half metre from the campfire. She held out her right wing in front of her, flicking the primary feathers several times, inviting the wolves to attack first. One readily acceptted the invite, and charges toward Poppo. With a hard opening and shutting of her wings, the snow Poppo laid down a thin sheet of ice in front of her. Using a burst of agility, Poppo got out of the Lupus' path. The ice hound attempted to sharply turn, however slipped on the slick ice, directly into the fire. Several painful yelps resound from the wolf before it rolled out of the fire, and retreated back into the woods.  
  
The other male Lupus stared down at Poppo before firing an Ice Beam. The bird took to the air, and pulled back her wings. Small ice crystals form on the four outer most feathers. Quickly, she brought her wings forward, releasing eight thin ice needles. The fast moving daggers grazed by the male's face, save for one, which embedded itself in the right eye. The Lupus recoils in pain from the disabling wound. Poppo repeated the attack, landing each needle in the wolf's side. It too disappeared back into the woods.  
  
With the tides now turned, the female slunk back as Sandopan and Poppo edge closer. The Lupus drew her lips back into a snarl, front teeth showing a coat of frost. Shifting weight to the hind legs and driving forward, the frost wolf lunged in a desperate strike. In a hasty defense, Sandopan covered its face using his right arm. Cold canine teeth knife through flesh. Though grimacing, Sandopan stabbed at Lupus' muzzle. Still the grip remained.  
  
Poppo dropped down into the foray, right onto the snout of the wolf, beginning to bat at the eyes. Distracted by the bird, Lupus released its bite to snap at Poppo. Only sheer speed prevented the snow bird from being eaten. Turning, Lupus took another snap at the fluttering bird.  
  
Turning a bind eye proved to be a costly error. Sandopan rushed toward Lupus, shoulder down low. Striking side on, Sandopan knocked the wolf off her feet. Laboured, the female attempted to stand up. Before she can do so, Erik took a pokeball off his belt, and pitched it at the struggling wolf. It hit and entrapped her. The small orb landed on the ground, rocked a few times. Then, stopped.  
  
Breathing a sigh of relief, Erik picked up the pokeball. However, his attention was drawn to Sandopan. On his right arm were a pair of bleeding puncture wounds, one on top and one on the bottom. Erik searched through his nearby pack, pulling out a small first aid kit. "You did a good job there." Erik said to his two pokemon as he tended to Sandopan's injuries. After wrapping a layer of gauze around Sandopan's arm, Erik looked down to the city below the hill. 'Tomorrow, I'll have another badge, and be one step closer to the Blue League.'  
  
  
End Episode #03  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
Pokemon Sub-Species  
When certain species of organisms live in two different environments for a very prolonged period of time, they tend to show adaptations which allow them to survive in the environment better. Should a population of Poppo be placed in a cold environment, over many generations, this population will have adapted to suit the climate. Thus sub-species are created.  
  
Snow (Or Arctic) Poppo  
Found mainly in the high arctic regions, the Snow Poppo carries an aspect of Ice. Snow Poppos have all the same attacks and stats of normal Poppos, except for the fact that they learn low level ice moves and have the same strengths/ weakness of the ice element.  
  
Lupus  
Another pokemon of the high arctic. Generally similar in appearance to real-life wolves. Live mainly in packs and are very territorial. Melee combat skills are refined, and can be deadly. Type: Ice/ Devil  
  
Ice Needle  
The Snow Poppo special move. Four thin slivers of ice are shot from the feather tips on each wing. Fast and painful.  
  
Translations  
Poppo = Pidgey 


	5. Episode #04 "Downfall"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #04 "Downfall"  
  
The sun hung low in the tundra sky, having just arisen from under the horizon. Dry, bitterly cold air remained still as Erik made his way to the Wabush City gym, the Oxide Gym. Sandopan trailed behind, barely keeping up with Erik. Just on the outskirts of the city, a large building stood, covered with a rippled metal siding. Rays of light bounced off the steel, creating a glaring reflection. A great set of iron doors opened with a groan as Erik pushed them apart. Inside the building was a large open pit, almost 10 metres across. Crushed and shattered rock fill the pit, glinting with the iron ore in the stone. "Who goes there?" From the far end immersed in shadows, heavy voice bellowed out.  
  
"A trainer, wishing for a gym battle." A lone man appeared from the darkness. Drab overalls and a scratched yellow hardhat were all the man wore. "So I see." He took a pokeball off his overalls belt. "I, Niko, accept your challenge. Two-on-Two, no time limit." With a throw, Niko sent out a small Koiru. Sandopan, readily got prepared to do battle. However, Erik outstretched his hand, keeping Sandopan back. From his belt, Erik removed a pokeball, and released Lupus into the depths of the pit. The ice wolf circled the floating magnet, not sure what to make of it. "Thundershock." Having received first orders, Koiru discharged a thin bolt of electric energy. Although temporarily, Lupus winced in pain from the sudden shock. Responding to the attack, Lupus answered back with an Ice Beam. Dodging as best it can, Koiru evaded most of the beam, allowing its right side magnet to be encased in ice. Weighed down by the ice, the Koiru dropped down to the ground, landing awkwardly on its side.  
  
"Crunch attack." Tilting her head to the side, Lupus powerfully clamped down on the hapless Koiru. A few shakes of the head, and it was thrown aside into the rocks with a resounding thud. Niko quickly recalled the downed Koiru. "Impressive." He sent out his second pokemon. A red insectoid appears in front of Lupus. Before she can react, the red pokemon slammed the broad side of its pincer-hand into Lupus, rendering her unconscious.  
  
Erik recalled the injured wolf, and gave the word Sandopan was waiting for. "Go." With that, Sandopan charged forward, leaping down into the pit. It landed in front of the armoured insect, taking a scraping slash against the metal. "Hassamu, Agility." A quick flap of wiry wings drew Hassamu back a bit, before disappearing in a burst of speed. Puffs of dust and hard clacks arose as the bug blazed around the confines of the pit. Sandopan stayed put, tracking the Hassamu's movements by the sounds.  
  
"Metal Claw." Reappearing in front of the hedgehog, Hassamu struck forward, pincer held open. Only centimetres separated Sandopan and the clamping claw as he hopped back. Hassamu moved forward, slashing with its right claw, only to be blocked by Sandopan. Using its other claw, Hassamu slashed again. Sandopan attempted to block with his right claw, but the injury sustained from the previous day hindered his ability. The block remained for a moment, before dropping. Hassamu's left claw, having been released, shot to the side. Seizing a strike, the steel pokemon snapped its left claw back, hitting Sandopan in the face. Helplessly, Sandopan partly spun around from the blow, and received a last hit in the back of the head. Limply, the hedgehog fell onto the rocky ground, as did a little piece of Erik.  
  
  
End Episode #04  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
Translations  
Koiru = Magnemite  
Hassamu = Scizor 


	6. Episode #05 "The Pit"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #05 "The Pit"  
  
Sitting on the edge of an abandoned open pit mine, a cold twilight wind flowed. Memories of the loss continued to burn within Erik's mind. Like a tape playing in a loop, Hassamu's final blow on Sandopan mentally repeated itself. Throwing a rock, Erik cursed aloud, although nobody could possibly hear the expended rage. Sandopan looked up from tending the wound. Never before had Erik become as volatile as he was now. He went to stand, but decided against it. Silence would do more to calm Erik's fury than words would.  
  
Battles would have to be lost. Erik had over come hurdles before. Defeats would be no different. Over a shoulder, a glittering rock was thrown, landing in a metallic clank. The fact remained that nobody liked to lose, even though half would. Erik sighed. Losing was inevitable. Even the greatest lost. What set the greats apart from the rest was how they lost. Each and every downfall suffered merely added to their drive for victory. Rolling a stone veined with cobalt in his palm, Erik realized that he must adopt that way of thinking in order to ascend. Finally freeing his mind, Erik again tossed a stone over his back. The same metallic clank resounded.  
  
Clank? He had heard the same noise before, yet was too involved with his train of thoughts to think anymore of it. Turning around, Erik looked to see what exactly he has been hitting. Down in the lowest point of the shallow pit, restrf a pokemon. In spite of all Erik's knowledge about the more than three hundred known pokemon species, this one escaped him.  
  
Nearly five metres in its full length, stretching from snout to tip of tail. Short limbs armed with thick talons held the underside only a few centimetres from off the ground. Heavy metal plates shone in the last rays of the dying sun, except for a twisted ridge running the full course of its back.  
  
Surely a pokemon this rare had to be good, especially in a rematch with Niko. Throwing caution to the wind, Erik engaged the unknown. "Sandopan, go for it!" The pokemon awoke with a start as Sandopan dropped down into the pit. The silver alligator anticipated this arrival, swinging around its massive tail. Hitting like a semi, the collision threw Sandopan into the embankment.  
  
Before dust and rock could settle, the unknown ripped a beam of white energy at Sandopan. He evaded the attack itself, but not the wave that came after it. The silver aimed another beam ahead of Sandopan. Kicking off a boulder kept the hedgehog from suffering the energy beam. Several more times, the silver attempted to strike with the beam. And several more times Sandopan evaded the attack by jumping around the pit. The silver halted its attack, leaving Sandopan to rest his lungs.  
  
"You're a fast little bastard, aren't you?" Unexpectedly, the silver spoke in a deep voice. Normally, pokemon could only speak a sole thing, their name. This was proving to be a truly unusual monster. "See if you can dodge this." The silver taunted, before forging a ball of energy in its mouth, and launching it like a mortar shell.  
  
Gracefully, it arced in the air, and exploded only a short distance from Sandopan. Many orblets scattered around the small area, detonating as they hit rock. The mine filled with the continuous blasting of the energy rain.  
  
The dust was cleared off by the gentile wind. Sandopan still stoods, arms crossed over his face. Bloody, yet still able for combat. The silver leered at him. "Managed to survive that? Most impressive, but here be the end." Great talons tore into the rock, bracing for the upcoming attack. The silver opened its mouth, allowing streams of energy to condense within. Bigger and bigger, the ball of power grew, eventually filling the alligator's open jaws. With a tremendous recoil, the silver activated the attack. Knifing through the air, blue-white energy flowed toward Sandopan.  
  
Leaping back and kicking off saved Sandopan from the devastating explosion. High into the air, the hedgehog radiated a light. The radiance reminded Erik of Sandshrew's evolution into his present form, but however slightly different. The light was forced off into a shell, and Sandopan torpedoes into the silver.  
  
Like the impact of a meteorite, the slamming of Sandopan into the silver sent tremors through the earth and debris into the air. The cloud receded, leaving the strewn bodies of the two fighters on the ground. Erik pitched a capture ball at the downed silver. It entrapped the alligator inside, but violently quaked after closing. The ball nearly broke open, stopped only by Sandopan holding it together. Continuing still, the ball shuddered. Gradually, the motions degraded into a light shaking, ending with the extinguishing of the red light.  
  
Victory at the Oxide gym would surely go to Erik with this new capture.  
  
  
End Episode #05  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
The Silver  
A mysterious new pokemon, not going to say anymore. =  
  
Hyper Beam as form of battle  
While Hyper Beam is known as a draining attack, by reducing the energy put forth into the beam, it can be utilized as a form of ranged combat.  
  
Area Blast  
An energy attack that acts like a cluster bomb. (Paragraph 12)  
  
Hyper Cannon  
An enhanced version of Hyper Beam. Damage potential is increased, as is stamina consumption. (Paragraph 13)  
  
Breakers  
A pokemon's last attempt to do damage. Breakers are special attacks used only under certain circumstances. While very powerful, breakers are very difficult to use. Intense fights, with the user badly injured are enough to trigger a breaker, but not always. (Paragraph 14) 


	7. Episode #06 "Iron Will"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #06 "Iron Will"  
  
Once more, Erik found himself back at the Oxide gym. Two days and two nights had passed since his first arrival at the gym. A loss resulted from the initial match. Yet this would be different. For he had a trump card, in which he planned on using right away.  
  
Niko stood on the far side of the open pit. "I presume you are back for a rematch Erik. I commend your persistence. This will be a two-on-two, no time limits. Agreed?" Erik nodded in response. "Then begin." The steel gym leader started the match going with a Koiru. 'This should be nothing at all.' Erik lead off with the silver dragon. As the pokemon emerged, Erik to commenced the attack. "Shoot it down." The dragon merely glanced back. "Why the hell should I? Just because you tell me to?!"  
  
"That's how it's supposed to go. Now attack it." The silver continued to ignore Erik. "I'm not some beast that you can order around, doing your biding."  
  
"Do you forfeit this match Erik?" Niko stated. "You are at a disadvantage already." Cursing to himself, Erik recalled the arrogant silver. "Giving up isn't an option to me. Sandopan, do this." Unlike the dragon before him, Sandopan went into battle without hesitation.  
  
As Sandopan slid down the sloped walls of the pit, Koiru directed one of its horseshoe magnets at the descending pokemon. Recoiling back a bit in the air, the magnet discharged a sonic pulse. Noticing the attack, Sandopan rolled to the right, avoiding the destructive SonicBoom. Shattered granite rained down as Sandopan reaches the floor of the pit.  
  
Before the Koiru could attack again, Sandopan charged forward. Jumping into the air, claws grasped a hold of the steel orb, and hurled it against the stony slopes. He landed, still running toward the Koiru. The small orb emerged from the rumble, only to be struck down by two hard jabs to the eye panel. Niko recalled the fainted Koiru, leaving Sandopan to resume a battle stance in the middle of the pit. Erik's pokemon showed no signs of tiring out, having just warmed up against the Koiru.  
  
Niko selected a familiar rival for his second pokemon, his Hassamu. The armoured pokemon fluttered its wiry wings as it stared down Sandopan. "Vice Grip." A great open pincer jutted forth, intent on crushing harm. Sandopan dropped back, followed by an advancing Hassamu. The hedgehog was forced back to the steep slope of the old mine pit. With a claw rapidly approaching, Sandopan maked a split second action.  
  
Grabbing a stone from the slope, Sandopan jammed it into Hassamu's claw, rendering it useless until the rock was either crushed or removed. Now having a open opportunity, Sandopan pushed off the near vertical slope of the pit, and jump kicked into the chest of the armoured insect. A distinct metallic crunching sounded through the gym. Dropping back on to the ground, Sandopan drove his left claw into the earth, sending a great fracture through the stone. Using thin wings, the Hassamu dashed out of the path of the cleaving earth.  
  
Holding out a claw, Sandopan generated a single star shot. The Swift, like a pinpoint of light, quickly and accurately found its target, the hairline crack in Hassamu's armour. Impacting, the star increased the size of the crack, stopping the insect dead in his tracks. With victory in hand, Sandopan moved in for another jump kick, the final blow. Just as victory seemed so near, Hassamu knocked the hedgehog away with a broad strike of a claw. Finally destroying the offending stone, Hassamu held both pincers open in front of him, gathering yellow energy. Erik's pokemon rose to his feet as Niko gives his final order. "Hyper Beam."  
  
Pointing his sharp claws to the ground, Sandopan shot a point-blank pair of swift stars to the ground. The shockwaves sent the hedgehog into the air, but most importantly, away from the impact zone of the hyper beams. Sandopan rolled in the air, crouching as he landed. He held out his left arm, braced by his right. A small pinpoint of energy forms on his claw. Hassamu looked up as Sandopan fired a thin Hyper Beam of his own. Lancing through the air, the energy beam struck the crack, blasting apart the metal armour. Suffering an intense shock, the Hassamu fell backwards, fainted.  
  
Niko recalled his damaged Hassamu, before throwing Erik a hexagonal silver badge, the Oxide Badge. "Your persistence has paid off Erik. I see good things for you in the Blue League. Not many can say that they caused such damage upon my Hassamu."  
  
"Thank you for your encouragement Niko." Sandopan climbed up out of the abandoned mine pit. "Let's continue on Sandopan, we still have much to do." Erik looked up to Niko. "Til we see each other again." With that, trainer and pokemon leave the gym.  
  
'Erik, I will see you once more in the future.'  
  
  
End Episode #06  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
No new pokemon/ attacks. 


	8. Episode #07 "Fire And Ice"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #07 "Fire and Ice"  
  
One week it had been since Erik's victory at the Oxide Gym in Wabush city. However, time was rapidly descending in on him. Only half a months time separated him from the start of Blue League competition. Luckily, enough gyms were around the site, thus allowing him to obtain the prerequisite eight badges to enter. Granted, he would have to make impressive time in order to make the official deadline.  
  
Erik quietly went over his plans in his head, sipping away at a coffee. A string of flawless victories would be the only way to gain entry. But this would be near impossible. Number one, he was going up against the total unknown. Guy had given him a list of the Canadian division gyms only, not the Eastern American division. Secondly, any interruption, not matter how insignificant or small, would send this precision plot into a tailspin of no recovery. Sighing, Erik sipped again from the small styrofoam cup, producing none of the warm fluid. As it would seem, when in deep though such as now, a hot cup of coffee sedated Erik's nerves.  
  
Whilst body was not too willing to leave the chair, Erik forced himself to rise up. At the register, a young rose-haired woman fights a war of words with the server.  
  
"I... Want... An.... Espresso...." She slowly said, hoping to get her message across. "Je nas pais parle anglais." The young Francophone replied, having said the same thing times before. A dusty-rose eyebrow twitches. "Would hard is it to get a cup of coffee this days? This is really starting to pis..."  
  
"Pouvoir je reçois deux tasses de café pour aller, plaire?" Erik stepped up, putting a two dollar bill on the counter. The woman stood beside Erik as the waiter served him. When the waiter put the two cups on the countertop, Erik handed her one of them. "Here you go." He walked back to the chair that he left. She stared down at the dark styrofoam for a few moments, before rushing to Erik's table. "You know, you didn't have to do that."  
  
"To see you up there like that, I thought I had to do something."  
  
"Well, you could have at least let me pay for that."  
  
"I did that because I wanted to..."  
  
She laughed lightly at this. "So I see." She drank some of her espresso. "It's embarrassing, knowing that I'm part french, yet can't speak a word of the language."  
  
"Slightly."  
  
"Thanks for helping me out back there."  
  
"It was nothing, seriously."  
  
"What's your name anyway? You don't seem to be from around here."  
  
"The accent was the give away wasn't it." She nods. "The name's Erik Iverson."  
  
"Kanna, Aisutennyo Kanna."  
  
"That's a nice name, Kanna."  
  
"My grandmother had the same name. Mom always said I looked like her when she was young."  
  
"So, what are you doing here?" The two ask at the same instant. Both Kanna and Erik laugh at the fact of saying the same thing at the same time.  
  
"I'm here to experience the french culture. France was a bit too expensive, so I came here to Quebec. Also the fact that Canada has two official languages sort of drew me over here, although not many speak English in this part."  
  
"Could have also gone to St. Pierre, just of the coast of Newfoundland. It's actually a part of France."  
  
"Huh, didn't now that. You still haven't answered my question yet."  
  
"Sorry. I'm here to collect up badges for the Blue League. Things aren't going to well at the current time."  
  
"Gym battles too harsh?"  
  
"Not enough time."  
  
"Oh. Time is the issue."  
  
"It always has been. I only started my journey about a month ago."  
  
"Really. Most kids where I live start their's at around twelve."  
  
"Well, the Indigo League has a lot less area and trainers to look after, when compared to the expansive Blue League. Besides, I didn't exactly live in the richest part of North America."  
  
"Now I understand." Kanna stopped to drink from her cup. "How did you know I was from Japan?"  
  
"The way you arranged your name, with surname first."  
  
"Not a dumb boy are you?"  
  
"Can't say that I am." Erik finished of his second cup of coffee. "Well, I got to be going. See you..."  
  
"Wait for a bit."  
  
"Ok."  
  
"I'm not the best when it comes to french, but do you mind if I tag along?"  
  
"Not at all. It does get boring, traveling alone all the time."  
  
"Alright, let's go!"  
  
*************  
  
All around Erik, a sea of fire flowed. This was the Ruby gym of Montreal. Obvious was the nickname Guy had given it, "Dante's Inferno." The heat was hellish, considering the cold climate Erik was accustomed to. Gripping a pokeball, the fire haired girl stepped forth. Charcoal black eyes given her a cold expression. "I am the leader Tristan, this will be a two apiece confrontation. Are you ready to experience the true "heat" of battle."  
  
"I'm ready for anything."  
  
"Procyon, emerge!" Throwing out her pokeball, the crimson hyena took a defensive stance, lowering its muscular neck, and revealing fangs. Sandopan took point, allowing claws to hang to his sides, curved in slightly. "Hurl combo." Tristan ordered. With next to nil time to react, the hyena darted forward, and clamped onto Sandopan's neck. Using its inertia, Procyon swung around, landed on the ground, and threw the hedgehog into the air. Hard it crashed to the ground, stopping inches from the edge of the platform. Sandopan looked up, as it dangled off the platform, only to see the Procyon glaring down upon it.  
  
A great black fireball began to form in the Procyon's mouth, preparing to drop Sandopan into the magma below. Driving a claw into the lava rock, the hedgehog sent a dividing crack halfway into the circular platform. Cracking the stone caused the hyena to lose its footing, giving Sandopan enough time to haul itself from the edge, and deliver a slash to the face. Dark fire is the countermeasure, knocking Erik's pokemon back. Still on his feet, Sandopan held his claws together, and swung them down like an axe, drawing a line of pure energy and blood.  
  
The hell hyena was thrown onto the otherside of the platform. "Daemon Fire." Tristan shouted. Standing up, Procyon radiated with a dark energy. Driving his left claw into the lava rock, Sandopan completed the clefting of the lava rock platform. Plunging into the sea of fire, the Procyon jumped off the sinking rock, hoping to land on the otherside. While still in mid-air, it was knocked back by a Swift, and is recalled as it hangs over the lava.  
  
"So that's how you want to play? Fiero, Magma Bomb." From the red energy formed a ruby coloured beetle. Four wispy antennae flow behind its back, over the armoured plated wing covers. Holding a hand over head, a large sphere of scarlet was forged. A simple throw, and the remaining portion of the platform simply seized to exist, destroyed under a devastating explosion. Shockwaves of heat propelled Sandopan into the pitch black wall of the gym.  
  
Unfazed by the intense Magma Bomb, Erik exchanged up pokemon, going for his only aerial attacker, the snow Poppo. Tristan chuckled at her turn in fortunes. "Flamethrower." Outstretching a hand, the magma insect shot forth a long reaching tongue of fire. Barrel-rolling away, Poppo responded back with a few thin needles of ice. The incoming missiles of frozen water got melted down by another flamethrower. The pursuit and evasion of the two continues around the gym, slowly taking is toll on the Artic bird.  
  
Realizing the futility of its current state, Poppo broke an S, and Quick Attacked into the Fiero, catching her off guard. However, the heavy armour plates deflected the attack, leaving the bird dazed in front of her, begging to be finished off. And she took full advantage of the situation, doubling up its flamethrowers. Just as the attack was to reach, an unknown field of ice absorbed the heat. A glow surrounded the Poppo, as it evolved into the next stage, a Pijon. Dropping the cloud of ice, the Pijon gathered altitude as the river of fire swept below. Dragging back a wing, four points of blue light concentrated on the primary feathers. Snapping the wing ahead, the four points of light expeled a quad set of ice daggers, larger than the needles once used as a Poppo. A great sphere of magma sliced through the incoming attack, and impacted into the Pidgeon. To the sound of burning feathers, the great ice bird fell out of the air in a fiery demise...  
  
  
End Episode #07  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
Procyon  
The hell hound of the African savannah. Both jaws and neck muscles are incredibly powerful, capable of snapping vertebrae of the large grazing animals of Africa. If you know a few things about astronomy, you'll probably note it has an evolution, Sirius.  
Type: Fire/ Devil  
  
Daemon Fire  
The attack takes two forms, a ball, or a flamethrower. Both forms are characterized by having a red-black colouration. Carries a side aspect of dark, in addition to the fire-based damage it wields.  
  
E-Slash  
A slash that generates a thin trailing sliver of energy.  
  
Fiero  
Resembles a Redian in most ways, except for the darker red colouration and the plated hide. Carries high end fire attacks, in addition to powerful melee moves. Evolves from a LadyBa by use of a multiple stone combination, the King's Rock and a Fire Stone.  
Type: Fire/ Bug + Rock/Steel/Flying  
  
Magma Bomb  
Just think about TerraForce in Digimon, and you get what the attack looks like.  
  
Ice Darts  
An upgraded version of Ice Needle.  
  
Translations  
Pijon = Pidgeotto 


	9. Episode #08 "Hope"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #08 "Hope"  
  
Wasted. Wasted was how he felt. That and anger. The carefully laid plans were destroyed before even begun. "You can't be that pressed for time." Kanna said from across the small table. Erik looked up from his thoughts. "I am."  
  
"I see. And you're not willing to wait one more year for the next competition?"  
  
"Not in the least. Five years I was denied this opportunity, but now, nothing really matters." Even though Kanna had only spent a few hours together with Erik, the disgust in his voice was obvious. She rested her chin on a bridge of interlocked fingers.  
  
"There is another way in..." Erik's dark blue eyes locked onto her slate grey eyes. "Over in the Indigo League, trainers if they want, can take a test and obtain a pass into the competition. The same should apply for over here in the Blue League." Silence accompanied deep though over this new development. "Seriously?" Kanna nodded once. "Pass the test, it's that easy."  
  
"I wouldn't think that. The exams are extremely difficult, testing the most obscure aspects of pokemon. Things you wouldn't expect are thrown at you."  
  
"When I was young, spending hours watching and reading about pokemon was nothing for me."  
  
"Think you're ready for it."  
  
"I'm ready for anything." Kanna glanced at her watch. "Let's see just how ready you are."  
  
*************  
  
Kanna sat at the small round table in the hotel room. Her feet rest on the wood as she gazed out over the Montreal skyline. Multicoloured citylights intermix with the few stars in the sky, and twinkle in unison. Silhouettes of buildings barely showed up against the darkened horizon. Over in the other chair, Sandopan rested, preening out the many quills on his back.  
  
Every five minutes he would do this, easing his anxiety. Kanna could tell that Erik and Sandopan were never apart, and any time spent away from each other was long. A sharp knock came from the door. "Who is it?" Kanna asked, still looking out the window.  
  
"It's me, Erik." Was her muffled response.  
  
"The door's unlocked." With that, the door opened, and Sandopan excitedly rushed out to greet his trainer. The two exchange greetings like old friends reunited. Kanna paid no attention to the pair, instead sipping lightly at a glass of red wine. Finally, Erik came in from out of the door, and sat down in the chair opposite Kanna, throwing his jacket on a bed on his walk over.  
  
"How did everything go?"  
  
"Good."  
  
"Did you pass?"  
  
"Of course." Kanna laughed at his amount of confidence, which borderlined arrogance. "I some how doubt you would return empty handed. Want a glass?" She held the green bottle in her hand.  
  
"Wouldn't mind one after a hard day's work."  
  
As Kanna poured up a glass. "Sure you're old enough?"  
  
"Are you?"  
  
Caught out, she quickly changed the subject. "Nice night out, isn't it?"  
  
"It is, especially with somebody else to spend it with."  
  
"Tell me about it. I've been on the road so long, nearly forget what it feels like to have some companionship." Kanna untied her hair, letting the dusty rose locks fall to her shoulder-blades. Hands behind her head, she attempted to braid her hair.  
  
"You need a hand with that?"  
  
"No, I'm fine." Erik moved over to the edge of the hotel bed, just behind Kanna. "You sure?" Giving up on her loose braids, she permitted Erik to do it for her. "I never knew any guys that could braid a girl's hair."  
  
"You do now." Kanna sunk back into the chair, calmed by the fingers running through silky strands. "Must have been all the times I did it fo my younger sister."  
  
"Never knew that you had a sister."  
  
"That's because I haven't told."  
  
"Make sense. What is she like?"  
  
"The usual little sister. Energetic, at times annoying, but all in all lovable. She was rather jealous too."  
  
"Aren't they always."  
  
"Maybe you're right. My mother had very long hair, down to her ankles. Every inch of it was a natural sapphire blue. I was the only one in the family that inherited that shade, and my sister was always jealous of me over it."  
  
"Your mother sounds like a beautiful woman."  
  
"She was."  
  
"Was?"  
  
"Not long before I left, she died of cancer."  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that."  
  
"Don't be. There isn't anything that can be done to change the past."  
  
"Do you ever think of her?"  
  
"Always." Erik finished the french braiding of Kanna's hair, clipping the end with a buckle. "I just can't help but feeling her right beside me during times like this."  
  
"Keeping you strong through the hard times." She got up from the chair to sit beside Erik, and put an arm around him. "I know she'll be proud of you no matter what."  
  
"I know so too." Lightly, her lips pressed up against his cheek.  
  
"Thanks for doing my hair, Erik." Kanna said, getting up once more.  
  
"It was nothing." She smiled at him, before disappearing into the washroom. Erik dropped back onto the bed behind him. With a sigh, he knew a place in the Blue League is assured. His only endeavour remaining, the tournament itself.  
  
*************  
  
Later That Night  
  
Everything remained silent, and still in the hotel room, save for Kanna. She stood out on the balcony, resting up against the cold metallic railings. Two loose tendrils of unbraided hair move in the night's wind, brushing up against her cheeks. A full moon hung high in the sky, adding to the hazy light of the sprawling city. Her eyes fell to the nothingness beyond the horizon. Deep memories consumed her, keeping her awake.  
  
Kanna reached into the folds of her nightshirt, producing a small oval locket. This was something she had kept close to her heart, for a very long time. Opening the small locket opend a floodgate of emotions. Beads of tear rolled down over cheeks, turned pink in the cold breeze. Kanna had truly been close to her. But now, she came to be with a young man, named Erik, who seemingly embodied similar traits.  
  
Almost everything about Erik reminded Kanna of her, even the way his fingers felt as they ran through fine hair. Memories of a time when all the two would do was style each others hair came rushing back in a mental visual blur. Memories that had been eclipsed by pain.  
  
Tightly Kanna closed her eyes, attempting to shut out the world. Opening them revealed the world to still be there, just as it had been, and always will be. Mentally, she cursed herself for allowing this to come to what it had come to. She hated breaking promises, especially the one Kanna had made to her: To always be strong. The wind seemed to speak to her in the moment, carrying with it the voice of hope.  
  
"I don't mind...." Was all it spoke. Three simple words released a great outpouring of sorrow.  
  
  
End Episode #08  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
No new attacks/ pokemon. 


	10. Episode #09 "Blue League: Round #1"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #09 "Blue League: Round 1"  
  
Two men sat behind a desk, shaped like an arc. In the back, a wall of screens displayed numerous images, mainly of pokemon. "Hello everyone, and welcome to TSN's coverage of this year's Blue League competition, here in scenic Toronto, Ontario. I'm Vic Rauter, and this is my co-host, Gino Reda."  
  
"Of all the years Vic and I have been covering this annual event, this is the one I have most looked forward to."  
  
"Indeed Gino. Ever since it's conception over two decades ago, the Blue League has risen on the world stage. With each passing tournament, the competition goes to a new level."  
  
"Former greats, notably Arnee, have been quoted saying that this league is definitely up there in terms of the much older Green and Indigo Leagues, from where this sport originated."  
  
"The demands that this competition place on the pokemon are immense, not to mention the strain on the trainers themselves. Ten successive fights in two days are extremely hard on these young trainers, some only as old as ten."  
  
"But that's the name of the game. You have to go into each battle with the mentality that your life depended on the outcome of the match, which it often does. The sad fact is though Vic, with in the first two days of competition, a vast percentage of the field will be eliminated, ideally leaving sixty-four trainers."  
  
"Yet how many times has that happened Gino?"  
  
"Not many, in fact, the last time that occurred was the first year we covered the tournament."  
  
"And what a year that was, that last year before the rules were modified to the format still used today."  
  
"The most noticeable of all the rule changes affected the second segment of the event, turning it into what the trainers have dubbed 'The Hell Zone." Six consecutive 2-on-2 matches spread out over the course of roughly one hundred twenty minutes test mental and physical endurance of pokemon and trainer alike."  
  
"And test them like no other. Our own Darren Dutchyshen is down where this will be all taking place." The two men turned to a small monitor screen to the left, which presented an image of Darren holding a mic, barely able to keep his position in a sea of trainers.  
  
"Boys, if this is what you call 'calm,' then I'm wondering what kind of chaos with break out in two days time." Darren said, as people continue to filter past him, very very slowly.  
  
"Something the likes you've never seen." Vic joked to Darren.  
  
"I'm just wishing I was up there in the commentator's box, instead of being down here."  
  
"It's your first year, you'll get used to it." Gino attempted his best to reassure the nervous Darren.  
  
"Not too sure if I'll survive long enough to do that! Getting back to what matters, officials project this to be the largest year ever in terms of number of entries. In fact, you two may get your wish for sixty-four."  
  
"Numbers have risen steadily each year for the past ten, and still the magic number has eluded us. This competition includes many repeat greats, as I've seen a few pass by. Gino, Darren, who do you think will win here?"  
  
"As always, my favourite to win is Lisa Anderson. The past six years have seen her finish strong each time, all the time getting better and better. This is her year to shine, and win."  
  
"Last year, I saw Billy Sheas rise from obscurity to infamy in an instant during his semi-final upset of reigning champion. It was no fluke, as he'll prove again."  
  
"Well, I'm going to have a go for the underdogs. Right now, amidst the last minute panic to the pokecenter complex before they close, stands a young man, around sixteen, simply standing and awaiting the start of the tournament. I don't know his name, but I can say he has the most striking blue hair I've ever seen. My money's on him."  
  
"We'll keep an eye out for him Darren. To everybody at home, enjoy the show, as we transfer over to ESPN2 for coverage of the opening ceremonies, and opening round action. Stay tuned later in the evening for highlights of all the day's action in a special extended edition of SportsDesk."  
  
*************  
  
"Well Erik, this is it."  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"Sound nervous."  
  
"Didn't think I would be."  
  
Kanna sighed. "No turning back now."  
  
"I know." Erik glanced to Sandopan. "But we're gonna do this, aren't we Sandopan?" His pokemon replies, holding a claw into the air. The to go to leave.  
  
"Erik?" He stopped to hear Kanna. "Just how many pokemon do you have on you now?"  
  
"F... Three." Erik finally got out, not wanting to mention anything about the disorderly Silver.  
  
"I shouldn't do this, but..." She handed Erik three shrunken down pokeballs. "You're going to need these." He stared at the three red and white capture balls.  
  
"Thank you Kanna."  
  
"Just though it wouldn't fair for you if that was the only reason you couldn't compete. Now go out there and win!"  
  
*************  
  
This match was to be Erik's first of four bouts in the day's double elimination stretch. Lose two matches, and that was it. But somehow, losing was the last thing on Erik's mind. His opponent strolled in, and without words, threw in his pokemon, an Fushigisou. Holding back Sandopan, Erik goes for the type advantage, selecting his Snow Pijon. On the wall, the seven and a half minute timer started its decay to zero.  
  
"Vine Whip." A pair of olive green vines shot from the partly bloomed flower on the pocket monster's back. Each grassy projectile was parried away by a single wing stroke, harmlessly going aside. Rapid beats of her wings created a broad slam of air, frigid in temperature. The wind froze the moisture in the atmosphere, depositing a thin layer of snow and ice onto the green creature. A groan of pain escaped its throat, suffering from a sudden shift in ambient temperature.  
  
The battle was going all to easily, Erik thought to himself as Pijon slammed down into Fushigisou, shelled in an arc of ice crystals. He wanted more, not a simple match, like he was facing now. "Razor Leaf." In an effort to regain some sort of control, or at least inflict some damage, the Fushigisou flicked its tall plant, releasing a pair of sharp edged leaves. A fast flick of her right wing unleashed her trademark move, four long blades of ice. Two intercepted the Razor Leaves, taking them to the ground. The other two found a painful mark, embedding themselves into the green flesh of the Fushigisou's side.  
  
"I... I forfeit the match." The other trainer regretfully said. A wise decision, not to risk any further damage, which could end the pokemon's run in the tournament. Pijon had displayed her aerial superiority, and that was all she needed. Erik couldn't help but feel some how cheated. He wanted to be challenged...  
  
*************  
  
Erik was beginning to develop a disliking for the rooms in which the first round of battles were held. In comparison to the regulation sized arenas, the rooms were approximately a third as big. Large enough for any known pokemon, but not large enough for optimal mobility. To get this over with was Erik's only thought as he called out his pokemon, one of which Kanna gave him, Jugon.  
  
His opponent called out her Ratta, getting the bout under way. "Hyper Fang!" The rodent pokemon darted toward the Jugon, Without retaliation, Ratta sunk its two main incisors into the seals' think flesh, just at the base of its neck. Under automatic reflex action, the white Jugon flails about, throwing the offending against a nearby wall. Fresh wounds began to flow on both attackers.  
  
Kanna's pokemon weren't trained like mine were, Erik reminded himself. "Going to have to this the old way. Jugon, Ice Beam." Recognizing the attack, Jugon finally went on the offensive, letting loose with a burst of ice from the point on its head. "Quick attack out of there!" Only the narrowest of margins separated fleeing pokemon from incoming ice. Had the floor been smooth polished metal, instead of the sandblasted variety currently used, the outcome may have been much different. "Ratta, Agility-Quick Attack combo." From the far end of the room, the Ratta combined two fast attacks into a single burst of sheer speed. Being from where he was, Erik knew the effects of mix a lot of speed with a little bit of ice.  
  
"Freeze a small spot a few feet ahead of you Jugon." Doing as he was told, the seal laid down a patch of ice in front of it using an Ice Beam. The opposition realized Erik's plan. "Ratta, watch out for the ice." She shouted out, attempting to avert an accident. Yet it was too late. Upon contacting the icy surface, its feet fly out from underneight him, while still continuing on its forward motion. "Tail Whip!" With one fling of its tailfin, Jugon hammered the now partially airborne pokemon back from where it came. Ratta slid to a halt on the abrasive flooring, and for a few moments struggled to stand.  
  
"...7 ...8 ...9 ...10. That's a KO, victory to Iverson." The ref stated, ending the match. So far, things were going Erik's way... So far.  
  
*************  
  
Erik patiently awaited for the arrival of his third opponent of the day. Only one minute remained before the start of the match. Should the trainer not present themself before that time, the match would be forfeited to Erik. While a great windfall, this was definitely now how he wanted to move up in the ranks. Selection of pokemon had already taken place. The ice wolf, Lupus, was to take point this match, and Sandopan to end the four battle set.  
  
A glance at the watch revealed the time, quarter past one, roughly half a minute til the start. The ref too checked time. Using the spare moments left, Erik mentally went over preparations for the second round. He could only go so far into it, when the young trainer made his entrance, immediately summoning a Supiaa. "Did... I... ma... ke... it...?" Gasping for a breath, the young boy asked. The ref replied only with a shake of the head.  
  
"It's alright, let the match go on. He's only a minute or so over." Erik pleaded to the ref.  
  
But the resolution remains absolute. "Those are the rules, and I can't change them." Erik can't help by sympathize with the young boy, for he had been in his position not too long ago. "Your next bout is at A-16 in five minutes."  
  
Erik went to leave the room, passing by the boy. Upon reaching the doorway, he stopped, knowing that something had to be said. "I'm sorry kid." He gets a silent response. "There's always next year, and you'll be all the more stronger by then too."  
  
"Really..?" Erik nodded as to say yes. "Alright. Come on Supiaa, let's go get ready for next year now." With energy characteristic to his age, the boy darted out of the battle room, Supiaa buzzing happily behind him. Erik smiled as he shook his head, watching the boy run down the hallways. The early days of training with the then Sanddo come to mind, when Erik was so very young, and so much like the kid. The trip down memory lane had to be cut short, with a match only a few minutes away. Quickly, he found the appropriate room, where a familiar face greeted him.  
  
Lise.  
  
Dressed in green and blue, the tall blonde awaited him. "Sort of knew I'd meet you again Erik." She unclipped a pokeball from her belt. "Yadokingu, go." In front of her, the energy condensed into the form of a pokemon, wearing a massive shell 'crown.' The thing cracked its knuckles, ready for duty. A nod of Erik's head sent Sandopan in as well. Erik knew his Sandopan was quicker than most others, and he hoped it would negate the type difference. "Just hit it hard and fast." With claws held together, like holding a blade, Sandopan charged in.  
  
Lise's eyes silt. "Headbutt." Reacting immediately to her will, the aquatic psychic brought his head down and around. The heavy crown slammed into Sandopan's chest, knocking him back with a sickening crash. Lying on the metallic floor, he rubbed the offended part of his body, burning in pain, perhaps the result of a cracked rib.  
  
Awkwardly, Yadokingu swaggered his way to the injured hedgehog, rocking widely from side to side as he did. He held out his right arm, firing a beam of purple energy from the palm. Sandopan rolled away to dodge the beam, before having to stand up and jump back to avoid the second.  
  
The hedgehog cradled the left side of his ribcage, while the other supported his weight. Each breath fueled the fires of pain in his body. In turn, the pain increases his want to win. Rising to his feet, Sandopan readied for one last strike. With all of his speed, he ran toward Yadokingu. He leapt into the air, claws back behind his head, intent on splitting their foe from jowls to groin.  
  
A single left hook landed into Sandopan's already injured side, ending the hope for that attack. The crippled pokemon fell heavily to the floor, now clutching his side even more. One kick from Yadokingu sent the badly beaten pokemon away.  
  
"Finish it off. Hydrus Cyclone." Lise's words carried a hard tone, commanding her pokemon to lay waste to what remained of Sandopan. Yadokingu held its arms out from his body, glowing with a faint aura, oscillating between purple and blue. All around Sandopan, a perfect circle of light formed. Arising from this emerged a tight cyclone of rapidly moving water, froshed white from the sheer velocity. The writhing mass grew to a full height of two metres. Upon reaching its zenith, the column collapsed in onto itself. Utterly drenched, Sandopan maintained a very unstable stance, breathing heavily. Quivering limbs gave out, as he dropped to the metal floor. A piercing clank marked his end.  
  
  
End Episode #09  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
Frost Arc  
An offensive-defensive attack. Consists of a shield composed of ice crystals. Can be use offensively, as in this chapter when it was paired up with Fly, or defensively, much like Reflect, Light Screen, etc.  
  
Hydrus Cyclone  
Lise's special move, and very powerful.  
  
Regulation Differences Among The Leagues.  
Every league in the world has its own distinct style. Each one tests the trainer differently, and keeps the fic interesting :)  
  
Official Blue League Rules  
The second newest league officially recognized by the White League. Considered to be the most stressful of all tournaments, except for the White League Tournament itself. Also has one of the more complex rule sets of all.  
  
First of all, there are no pokecentres in operation during the time of the competition. This is what makes the six battles in a row so very difficult, sheer endurance is tested. Once a pokemon becomes too severely injured to compete, it is removed from the limited line-up until it recovers on its own. As the tournament progresses, this atrition takes a toll on a trainer's line-up, and all too often forces them to withdraw.  
  
Secondly, conditions of defeat are different from other leagues. A pokemon can only be considered unfit for combat if: 1. Is knocked out; 2. Ten-counted out; 3. Critically injured or, unwilling to fight/ retaliate, resulting in stoppage of fight by the ref. These rules are modeled after ones used in boxing.  
  
All other rules are similar to the other leagues.  
  
Translations  
Fushigisou = Ivysaur  
Jugon = Dewgong  
Ratta - Raticate  
Supiaa = Beedrill  
Yadokingu = Slowking 


	11. Episode #10 "Hell Zone"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #10 "Hell Zone"  
  
"Does it hurt when I do this?" Asked Erik, before he lightly prodded at Sandopan's side. Upon the slightest contact, the hedgehog recoiled in pain, gritting his teeth. On the surface, it seemed as though nothing was wrong, but any contact in the region of the fracture sent Sandopan reeling in agony.  
  
"So there's nothing you can do about this." Kanna wondered, concerned over Sandopan's well being.  
  
"Not a thing."  
  
"That's an odd rule though, to disallow any usage of a pokecentre or any type of curative item."  
  
"The rule was brought in to decrease the number of trainers that moved on. Weeds out the weaker trainers, somewhat too aggressively though." He placed a bag of ice onto Sandopan's side. "Besides, even if you could use them, I wouldn't."  
  
"Why not?" Never before had Kanna actually heard someone not want an advantage.  
  
"Where I live, there was no such thing as a pokecentre. So I had to live without. Guess I haven't bothered to change." Kanna fell back onto the hotel bed, dusty rose hair scattering in every which direction. "Your pokemon, your way of training them." Through the corner of her eye, she stared out at the city skyline. "What time do your matches start?" Kanna ask, making no effort to hide her boredom.  
  
"Not for another hour or so. Lucked out and managed to get a decent time." He glances to Kanna. "Sound like you really want to get out of here."  
  
"Anything would be better than being stuck in here."  
  
*************  
  
"So this is where we go, a burger place." Kanna said, sarcastically complaining.  
  
"Well, can't exactly afford a whole lot." Erik grinned sheepishly. "I'll treat you to something better after I win the tournament." She stepped back.  
  
"Neither bit confident are we?"  
  
"Would you rather, 'I'll take you back to the same place after I lose?'" Erik mentioned with the shrug of his shoulders.  
  
"Maybe you're right, in your own arrogent way."  
  
"Of course I'm right, always like that." Upon saying this, Erik went off to find a table. All Kanna could do is shake her head, and wonder about him.  
  
Finding a table for Erik was only easy. Sitting down in the hard plastic swivel chair, the first thought that comes to mind is how Sandopan's injury would affect his strategy. Although it was the primary thing on his list of concerns, for some reason, he couldn't fully think about it. His mind was seemingly transfixed on other matters. Just that Erik couldn't quite put his finger on it.  
  
Sighing, he finally decided to forget about it all, and enjoy the time off while he could. Down at the other end of the restaurant, three girls noticed Erik at his table. The three sisters of the first gym. Lise and Angela talked amungst themselves, about what Erik couldn't tell.  
  
From his vantage point across the building, he witnessed the verbal discussion between the sisters turn slightly more intense, until Angela was almost drug off the chair by her elder. At this point, Erik realized that it had become a little too private and turned away.  
  
He didn't think anymore of it, until a familar soft voice spoke to him. A swivel of the chair, and Erik faced the speaker, Angela. She looked rather different than when Erik first met her. A pale blue sleeveless turtleneck and black jeans perfectly accent her figure. Even though Angela was around Erik's age, she already had the body of a woman, something he had failed to notice in their previous encounter.  
  
She stood there silent for a moment, arms crossed at her stomach, looking at him, searching for the right words. "Hey." Was all she got out, accompanied by a half blush, and a half stutter.  
  
"Hey." Erik said, reciprocating Angela.  
  
"You remember me, right?"  
  
"Yes I do, but I almost didn't because of all the clothes you're wearing right now." What was once a half blush, turned into a full one, as Angela's face went a shade of red. Nervously, she looked back to her sister's table, where Carlie frantically motioned with her arms. Angela rotated back to Erik. "Ummm... I was... ah... you know, if..." She mumbled, trying her hardest to say what she wanted to.  
  
"Erik, got a fan club going already?" Kanna joked, walking in with a red tray in her hands. She wasn't in her seat a second before she started jabbing at Erik's side with an elbow. "Soon you'll need something to keep them all back." Without a word, Angela turned away, going back to her table in a hurry. "Was it something I said?"  
  
"Don't exactly know." Erik said, taking his food off the tray. "What happened to your glasses?"  
  
A hand brushed by where her glasses normally were. "I felt like taking them off for a while. Do you like it?"  
  
"I liked you better with the glasses on."  
  
"Why's that?" She asked, placing the slender frames back onto her face.  
  
"Gives you a, look." Erik gazed into Kanna's eyes, framed elegantly by thin cat's eye lenses. Her slate grey shining with an unmistakable radiance. The type that could...  
  
A sharp beeping of Erik's watch drew his attention. "Ah jez, I have to go and get ready for my matches. Wish I had a bit more time."  
  
"So do I. Good luck anyway Erik."  
  
*************  
  
Same rooms as before in the first round. This time around, Erik was on a much tighter schedule, only one hundred and twenty minutes to fight six straight battles of two-on-two. Lose here, and that would be it. This was it, the Hell Zone.  
  
Gripping the red and white capture ball firmly in his hand, his heartbeat quickened and breaths became faster and shorter. On the wall, hands of the clock drew closer to the point of no return. Striking three PM, a timer started to count down, commensing the longest two hours of the competition.  
  
Throwing in the ball, Erik lead off with another of Kanna's, Rapurasu. Her heavy bulk landed on the metal floor, accompanied by a loud crash. Rapurasu's prescence is joined by another, a Nidoriino. Thrusting his horn into the air, the poison pin clawed at the steel floor.  
  
"Poison Sting attack!" Shouted the other trainer. The one advantage of being stationary, the opponent had to come to you. Horn lowered, the Nidoriino blindly charges forward.  
  
"Give it an Ice Beam." Braided veins of frost energy burst from Rapurasu's mouth. Nidoriino's eyes shoot up just in time to see the incoming attack, and sidestep it, all the while maintaining its forward motion. "Do it again." Erik commanded. Like a hypodermic needle, Nidoriino's horn penetrated Rapurasu's hide, injecting its toxins into her bloodstream.  
  
"Blow Nidoriino away with a Water Gun." Despite her agony, Rapurasu spat out a jet of water, gradually increasing the force behind the attack. Nidoriino's grip on the wet metal floor gave way, sending him back across the room.  
  
Rapurasu did her best to catch her breath. The last attack had injected enough biotoxin to do considerable damage. Only a few minutes remained, four or five tops, for Rapurasu. And Erik knew he had to make the best of those minutes.  
  
On the opposing side, Nidoriino simply stood and awaits his poison to fully take effect. The lack of action infuriated Erik, for as it seemed, his opponent is taking the cheap way to victory. "Attack!"  
  
"As you wish, Nidoriino, Flash." A blinding burst of light radiated from the pokemon, reflecting off the steel walls, increasing its intensity. Erik was lucky enough to shield his eyes, but the Rapurasu was no so fortunate. Her eyelids so tightly shut, they quiver, as she cringed in a mixture of shock and pain. "Now, finish it off with a Horn Drill." With Nidoriino's horn rotating rapidly, again it stampeded towards a helpless victim.  
  
Now he was in a jam. Rapurasu, poisoned and blind, was in no condition to do much of anything. Yet, he couldn't just allow defeat to occur. A chance had to be taken, and hope that Kanna was as good a trainer as Erik thought.  
  
"Rapurasu, throw off a shell of Psychic." Her entire body began to glow a light blue, pulsing once, emitting a concentric psychic sphere. The rolling shell struck a glancing blow to the Nidoriino, followed up by a quick succession by the waves reflected off the mirror-like walls. The poison pin crashed to the ground, having suffered a barrage of deadly energy. A red beam recalled the fainted. "Go, Raindeer. Knock it out with a Take-Down." From the pokeball, emerged a tall dear-like pokemon, with small buds atop his head. Jet black hoofs clank resoundingly on the tiling as it strode to Rapurasu.  
  
"One last time, Psychic." Just as she initiated the attack, throwing off the first wisps of energy, the Raindeer struck its horn buds into the lower part of her neck. This ended the combat for Rapurasu, but not without damage payed back. What little psychic energy she had created, was more than enough to throw the young deer back a ways, landing in a heap.  
  
Expression unchanged, Erik returned the unconsious Rapurasu back to the safety of her capture ball, and sent out the feral ice wolf, Lupus. Her pale powder blue eyes locked themselves upon the falled Raindeer. Sensing an easy victim, she sprinted.  
  
"Get up and give that wolf a Stomp." From up off the floor, Raindeer began to stand. While in the attempt, Lupus accurately took the left forelimb out from under the deer. An old hunting tactic no less, as only the knee joint was struck with deadly precision. A quick reaction from the Raindeer sustained its balance. Lupus turned her body around, skidded to a halt, now facing the disoriented Raindeer.  
  
A second pass proved much more effective. The element of suprise truly can be efficient. Not suspecting anything, the Raindeer fell to its knee as Lupus once again cliped a leg out from under it. Performing another turning stop allowed the wolf to witness the end result of her doings. A sick snap accompanied Raindeer's fall.  
  
Lupus focused in on the second forelimb, now flailing about in a vain struggle for enough traction to bring the deer back up. Yet, her plans go undone. "The injury sustained by Raindeer is too severe to continue. Victory to Iverson." Quoted the field marshal. Regretfully, the trainer recalled his crippled deer. The official turned to Erik. "Your next match: C-6."  
  
As he raced down the tight hallways, Erik plotted up a game plan for the next match. Normall, he would rotate the line after each fight, but since Lupus was in the midst of a good combat high, it would be foolish to waste it.  
  
Lying in wait was his second opponent, a young girl, who looked barely old enough to hold a licence. "Pichuu, I choose you." Erik could never understand the purpose, or reasoning, behind announcing what was to be sent out. It made as much sence as divulging strategy. Clean and efficient was how Erik fought, releasing the still frenzied Lupus.  
  
"Pichuu, Sweet Kiss." The small yellow rodent approached the wolf, lips puckered up and arms outstretched. It obviously didn't know what it was getting into. A bearing of glistening white fangs and a feral growl was more than adequate to send Pichuu scurrying away. The chase had begun.  
  
In all her experience, hunts involving small woodland rodents were always easy, especially those that didn't watch where they were running. Too caught up in its blind run away from the threatening wolf, Pichuu made full contact with the wall, rebounding in a dull thud. It shook off the collision, only to feel Lupus' hot breath over his shoulder. "Pichuu, Agility. Run away." A slight flicker, and the small rodent vanished under a temporary increase in speed.  
  
Pichuu came to a rest nearby the opposite wall of the corner she had been driven into. Familar warthm greeted her there. Lupus had seen that move enough times before, and had managed to learn the trick for herself. She wasn't the alpha female for nothing. A hop and a half twist placed the artic wolf in her ideal place, in front of a quivering mouse. "Thunderbolt!" The girl screeched.  
  
Small red circles became enringed by tiny sparks of electricity. Haunching back, Lupus prepared to lunge forward to her quarry. "Fall back Lupus." Erik commanded the ice wolf, halting the strike, and forcing a small forfeiture of ground. Electrical build-up reached its critical point, as a pair of crackling whips jut ahead. Both bolts intercepted the floor once occupied by Lupus, and harmlessly disappated into the metal. The total ineffectiveness of the attack left trainer and pokemon agasp as to what happened.  
  
That was twice in two battles that the room attributes had come into play during a combat situation. Maybe they weren't so bad after all. He smiled at his chance to lay down some serious damage. "Now!" Still stunned, the Pichuu got knocked back into the corner by a smack of a forelimb. Not even enough time elapsed for the Pichuu to slow to a stop, before Lupus encased it in a crystal clear block of ice.  
  
"Gaadii, go." The black striped fire pup took a stance, watching Lupus' every move. Throwing her head over her shoulder, the feral wolf glared down at the opposing force. Eyes were the kind that could split ice in a moments look. Each one is trained onto Gaadii all the time during her slow turn.  
  
One silvery limb stepped in front of the other, marking a gradual advance, stature held high. Her little indimitation tactic generally did the job, and now was not the exception. Gaadii's fidgiting and general uneasiness read quite clearly. Just another part of the plan. The young girl breathed in to issue her next order. Possessing a milli-second long reaction time, Lupus increased her speed from a march to a mad dash.  
  
"Ember attack." Dropping its jaws, the tiger-striped hound breathed out a rain of shimmering sparks. Going down onto her forelegs, Lupus slid under the hazardous cloud of fire. Driving off with the hindlegs, she catapaulted skyward, clinching ahold of Gaadii by his throat as she did. Halfway through the flipping motion, Lupus reliquished her strangle hold, causing Gaadii to land on the broad of his back. Moments later, Lupus touched down, albeit more gently on all fours, having twisted over in the last half of her jump. Standing over the Gaadii, white teeth lost their sheen as a frost developed.  
  
Options for the Gaadii were limited to say the least. Doing all he could, the pup ignited Lupus' underside. She instinctively jumped away, somehow falling backwards in her attempt to evade the flames. But, with a single motion, Lupus rolled her burnt body up off the ground. Swinging around, she traced a wide arc on the floor with a solid beam of ice. Her head came around to where Gaadii was. Opperative word there: Was. A well placed Flamethrower granted him enough time to avert one attack, get up, and avoid another. Not bad for rookie instincts.  
  
However, Lupus really wasn't the kind that wanted to see her time honed skills loose to a few lucky breaks of a novice. Her eyes caught the opening stages of a flamethrower as the first tongues of fire explode from Gaadii's throat. Not time enough to escape, but enough to try something creative. Dead centre in the path of the flames, Lupus fanned her head, issuing for a solid beam of ice, building up a short wall of frozen water. Fiery tongues struck the ice, stalling in their forward motion. Merely half a second passed, and the flamethrower bored a hole clean through the ice wall. That was all she needed to flee. Quickly, she side-stepped the fire column, though still getting a flank blasted by a heat wave. Small stuff.  
  
Instead of a supressed yelp, Lupus cried a full fledged howl. Echos reverberated through the small room. Powerful sound waves shattered a few panes of glass, but more importantly, breaking what remained of the ice wall. Bits of ice shrapnel scattered everywhere, much of which buried into Gaadii skin. Sufferering critical damage, the fire hound fell to the floor, releasing one last attack. A ball of fire.  
  
Slightly, it arced during the flight to the ice wolf. Not suspecting anything, the firebomb ruptured over Lupus' head, engulfing her in a naplam-like flame. An unnatural bawl sprung from her throat as she went down, consumed in short-lived flames. Erik withdrew Lupus from battle.  
  
A run of three was nothing to be ashamed of, but loosing a pair in the opening two fights was something. Still, he had four fully rested waiting, and, that would definately play out during the latter quarter of the Hell Zone.  
  
His third opponent entered post haste, releasing her pokemon, a scrawny green Cacular. Arms angled upwards, the spiny cactus awaited orders. A sheer all out assault wouldn't do much, considering the vertically running ridges laced with hard needles. But he had the perfect counter to this prickly pokemon, Kanna's Parushen. The ultimate stronghold.  
  
"Parushen, Aurora Beam." An ice manover would surely inflict heavy damage, considering the cactii's type. Popping open the double shell, Parushen revealed its inner court, and attacked. From the tip of it's mighty spire, a faint phlorecent shot. A snap of the opposition's finger, and the Cacular effortlessly dodged the beam. Eyebrows leviate momentarily at the sudden movement from the supposed sessile plant. It knew Agility. Just have to use something faster. "Spike Cannon." Shift weight back, the shell readied a launch.  
  
"Thousand Needle." Quickly, the cactus leapt into the air, glimmered once, and began a rain of thin needles. Instinct told the Parushen to shut its shell and brace for impact. Little plinks sound with each hit of the needles, now piling up front of the shell. Making a downward swing using an angled arm, Cacular threw one last spike, and fell back to the floor. "That was close."  
  
The reopening of Parushen's shell revealed how close it was. Like a pin drop, a single spine fell to the metal below, having been held between the inner shell. Too close. The superfortress idea was going bust, in a hurry. "Withdraw."  
  
Now his opponent raised an eyebrow at the uncalled for stop in action. She simply shrugged a shoulder, and took advantage of the situation. "Mega Drain." Thin ivy-like vines extended from Cacular's arms, creeping toward the closed shell. As the vines entwined around the jagged outcroppings of Parushen's main shell, she couldn't figure out why Erik was willingly allowing damage to occur to one of his pokemon. It all hit seconds before Erik's next command.  
  
"Coat a spike with ice, and FIRE!" To a sound of snapping weeds, Parushen pried his paired hulls open, only by a small crack. Sufficient to pull of the attack. A wafer thin sheet of ice formed on the horn, and the oyster let drift. Taking the precision of a sniper, the single Ice Spike Cannon shot found its mark on the small cactus, critically injuring it. Becoming unorthodox had benefits.  
  
Half-heartily, she traded up her pokemon, sending out a desert coyote, Fenix. The coyote could barely maintain stability over its limber frame. Over its body were large lacerations, some in the partial stages of healing, from yesterday no doubt. Apparently, poor Fenix bore the brunt of damage during a battle, and was red-lining as a result. As bad condition it was in, Erik still had to knock it out to advance. "Bubblebeam." The Fenix graciously accepted the incoming ray of hued waterbubbles, retreating to the relief of temporary blackness.  
  
Life is cruel, Erik thought to himself as his opponent leaves. The mental discussion continued during his wait. But success meant nothing if you have no adversities to overcome. A blue eye slies over to the digital timer mounted on the wall. Half the time had expired for the round, and Erik was doing quite well for himself.  
  
"Armouro, Quill Strike." He did it again, losing himself in thought. On the other side, the great porcupine flared lenghty round barbs off its back. Just above one eye, a small cut dripped onto the bridge of a stubby snout. Growling lowly, Armouro's quills twitched forward, throwing off five. Instictively, Parushen shelled up, taking the same approach as with Cacular before. But this wasn't a pint sized cactii, and Erik knew it. "No, shoot the quills down." Double hulls reseparate, exposing the spike turret, and fires one shot. One shot is all Parushen gets, managing to intercept a single quile. The other four impact in a sharp series of cracks, burying into the armour. The dull purple oyster truly looked odd with four long banded quills lodged into either half of the shell. But what was worse, said quills penetrated enough calcium to rest their points on the inner shell, thus keeping both inner and outer hulls jammed open.  
  
"Parushen, Ice..." Crack. Then another sharp crack. A craggy divide had formed and was slowly increasing in size as the quills further inched into the shell of Parushen. If those spines go any deeper, the results could very well be terminal. A calculated risk to play, but this wasn't one of his pokemon. It belonged to Kanna, which meant Erik can't exactly work Parushen like any of his.  
  
Raising a sole brown banded quill, Armouro took careful aim at Parushen's jet-black insides. One hit was all it needs, as it releases the quill. A soft amber glow shone from Parushen's main spire. Hyper Beam. Hard recoil and low pitched wheen accompanies the launch. Swiftly lancing through the air, yellow energy vaped the incoming quill on its path to Armouro. Hitting the ground before its feet, shockwaves slammed into the porcupine, who latched into the metal in a struggle to stay earthbound.  
  
One final crack sent the split dangerously close to the edge of Parushen's shell, forcing Erik to recall him, and to reassess his options. Logically, his only option was to go with Pijon, and hope her aerial tactics can avoid those Tomahawk-like quills. Minute ice crystals in the Artic's blue plummage reflected in the light. Flappings of wing produced a faint shower of snow. "Watch out for the quills it fires Pijon." Erik warned her.  
  
"Armouro, show them just how hard it is to dodge your quills." The coast of needles twitched forward, shooting off three high speed missiles. Pijon barrel-rolled away, proving that dodging wasn't so hard. Erik's opponent grit his teeth, not liking the fact that Pijon so easily evaded his attack. "Same attack, just throw as many out there as you can." This was getting old in a hurry, using the same attack four times in a row. The porcupine relaxed for a moment, allowing the coat of quills to fall back down. Growling a loud guttoral cry, the spines flicked forward, throwing off a volley of ten.  
  
Calmly, Pijon hovered in place, generating a thick arc of ice. Irregular chuncks of frozen water tightly pack together. As the quills strike the arc, hail stones crack deeply, but hold firm. Unlike Parushen's calcium shell, Pijon's artifical ice wall stood up to being used as a pin cushin. Not a single barb stuck out of the arc. And then it moved.  
  
Shifting her position in the air, Pijon slowly turned, moving the ice arc along. Nearly a quarter of a ways through a rotation, Pijon's emerald eyes slat. Powerfully using her wings, the majestic ice bird whipped back to her original orientation, just at a much higher velocity, and with the arc retracted.  
  
Having no secure anchor, the control over ten quills was left in the hands of centrifical force, which sent them all back to their prior owner, Armouro. One could say, the best offensive is somebody else's.  
  
Travelling with such speed, the porcupine had only fractions of a second to react. Before it could make a move, the volley of quills returned to sender. Eight harmlessly embed themselves into the plate steel. The other pair literally nail a limb onto the floor. Armouro groaned in agony as he wrestled to free his leg, only to worsen the damage. Landing, Pijon took the opportunity to land the last blow upclose. Bringing her left wing just in front of her face, the two trailing flight feathers capped over in ice. A skillful slash raked a surgical wound, starting above the right eye, down over the bridge, ending at Armouro's cheek. Red energy recalled the porcupine before Pijon can complete the cross-slash.  
  
The trainer fumbled around on his belt, searching for the proper pokemon to send in for duty. Saying nothing, he found the ball he was looking for, and cast it in. Out of the capture ball emerged a purple-blck raptor. Short stub wings meant for agile tactics strained to keep a horizontal hover. Pijon took notice, bringing herself back into the air. "Falcor, Quick Attack." Clasping wings to his side, the small brid of prey dove down a bit, acellerating by the force of gravity. Unfolding wings, Falcor asserted control over flight, gathering speed and altitude.  
  
The initial pass Pijon dodged by sliding slighty to her right. Falcor continued on its path, breaking a tight S at the far end, all the while maintaining impressive speeds built up. The next pass was much more close, with Pijon, much larger than Falcor, being moved by the air current. Damage potential dramatically increased with velocity, reaching a peak of over one hundred eighty kilometres an hour. A second turn proved more challenging, forcing Falcor to bank hard going into a very wide radius turn. Pijon tracked the raptor's motion coming out of the hairpin. Her position remained unchanged, directly in the path of a cruising bird of prey.  
  
Timing everything just right, the artic bird shifted over to her left, rotating to face perpendicular of Falcor's flightpath. Two muscular wings contract back and swing forward, creating a devestating wall of air. For a split-second, Falcor felt the full effect of the slam of wind, acellerating sharply above his maxium speed and being deflected off at an angle in an unstable flight. Stunned momentarily by the impact, the dark purple falcon failed to react to the steel wall approaching at two hundred ten. Like a paper crane, Falcor crumpled up at collision, rebounding from the wall. Flailing, the bird fell to the ground, still travelling at a fair clip. Rough steel plates brought the sliding raptor to a gradual stop, leaving behind a trail of broken feathers and red. The snow bird hovered in place, not sure what to think of the damage caused by a sole attackt. Scarlet recalled Pijon back to her capture ball. "Victory to Iverson, next match, D-12." The official bellowed in a matter-of-fact tone. Erik tipped his head, striding out of the room. He was only two away from moving on.  
  
*************  
  
"Parasekuto, Stun Spore." Lifting up the enlarged mushroom on it back, the insect pokemon sprayed a fine copper dust into the air, directed towards an all white sealion. "Take the spores down with Bubblebeam." A powerful water shot intercepts the pollen cloud, suppressing the paralyzing attack.  
  
"Slash attack." The parasitic insect edged close to Jugon on its thin legs. Jugon rolled to the side, avoiding a descending claw. "Fire an Aurora Beam into its underbelly." Still in his roll, Jugon's head spike burst with colour, flooding the tender ventral portion of the insect, flipping it over in the process. Legs flailed wildly as Parasekuto rested on its mushroom, unable to get up.  
  
Jugon took the time for a short breather. Cuts, scrapes, and bruises accumulated were starting to affect performance. The Gorudakku before held responcibility for most of those wounds. That's not to say that Parasekuto didn't add and more. Erik interrupted Jugon's short rest with a command. "Ice Beam." Bowing his head, a point of blue energy formed, resting atop the horn. Gradually, the sphere increased in size.  
  
Parasekuto too prepped for an attack. From where it had launched all of the spore, gathered small balls of illuminessance. Erik caught sight of this energy collection and advised appropriatly. "Fire your Ice Beam now!" But, it was too late. "Parasekuto, Solar Beam." Both attacks fired at the same time, passing half-distance. A ball of ice and pastel green beam past by the other, separated by a small margin.  
  
Light green energy blasted over Jugon, ending his combat streak. On the otherside of the battleroom, the hail stone entered where the Solar Beam left. To the sounds of crystaline crackles, Parasekuto convolsed badly. A rather nasty case of brainfreeze. A thrown pokeball released Pijon. The graceful bird ascended, quickly surveying the scene before her. Quivering helplessly, Parasekuto begged to be picked off in a showy fashion. Vapours in the air condensed in front of Pijon, creating a misty veil. Freezing and further condensation occur, forming an arche of rocky ice. Tucking wings to her back, Pijon divebombed into Parasekuto. Breaking free from the hold of the arc, irregulary shaped balls of ice bombarded the Parasekutoic insect. "Parasekuto, return." The trainer conceeded the fight, withdrawing his pokemon.  
  
That last match took too long, Erik thought to himself. Looking at the timer on the wall marked the closing minutes of the round. Left in his line-up was a tiring Pijin and a ready to go Sandopan. Playing it safe, Erik traded up his fighters. Sandopan stretched out his back after being cramped up in the ball for so very long. The last trainer Erik had to face in this round enters, much to both's shock. "I was wondering if I'd see you again." Guy smirked. He obviously had remembered their meeting during the crossing.  
  
Crossing his arms, Erik gave Guy a hard look. "You seriously doubted I would get here?"  
  
"Just a though." The official on the side gave the two trainers the evil eye, a sure sign that he was getting impatient with their chatter. Plucking a ball off his belt, Guy cast out his Oudairu. Dark green scales cover the land alligator, reflecting light with a wet look. "But remember, just because we're friends, I'm NOT going to take it easy on you."  
  
"Same here. Show him what you can do Sandopan." The hedgehog ground his claws against one another, savouring the coarse shrieking. Oudairu fell down onto all fours, taking a boost in agilness. "Oudairu, Bite." With a wide gait, the emerald green gator stampeded across the metal floor. His lower jaw hung down, showing off the pearly white teeth. Sandopan jumped up into the approaching face of danger. A swift knee forced Oudairu's jaws shut. For a what seemed like a second, the two worth foes stayed in place, Sandopan's knee directly under the gator's massively built jaw. Taking a clean swing, Sandopan axe struck into Oudairu's upper jaw, sending him away in a roll.  
  
Clutching his mouth, the alligator resisted the urge to roar out in pain. "Get up and hit it with a Water Gun." Guy knew that ground types were weak to water, and that this could be all he needed to claim victory. Standing back on two legs, Oudairu spat out a forceful blast of water. Crossing his arms in front of his face, Sandopan braced for impact. Streams of water pour around the hedgehog, yet didsn't budge an inch. "That's enough." The water flow stopprf. Uncrossing his arms, Sandopan looked no worse for wear. "No damage what so ever... Intense." Guy saif, somewhat shocked. Regaining his composure, he relayed another order. "Mega Punch."  
  
Standing in wait, Sandopan was unmoved at Oudairu's advance. At close range, the gator swung a right hander, easily avoided by a duck. Going from his squating position, Sandopan jumpped into the air, delivering a hard chest kick. Heavy plate scales absorbed most of the impact, but a blow that hard would be felt anyway. Knocked back slightly, Oudairu let loose with a power left hook. A clean strike plucked Sandopan out of the sky, throwing him to the metal floor. Coughing up blood, Erik realized what had happened. That left punch had shattered ribs even worse than what they already were. Mercilessly, Oudairu picked up Sandopan by the throat, adding a few more blows into his side. Consciousness began to slip way for the hedgehog. But defiantly, he hung on by a thin thread. Badly shaking, Sandopan's left arm rose up, pointing directly into Oudairu's face. Summoning every drop of remaining energy, the hedgehog forged it into a beam. Deep amber light floods over Oudairu's head. The great alligator collapsed backwards, letting go of Sandopan. Its face was scorched and torn by the sheer power of the Hyper Beam. Half destroyed, the two pokemon lid on the floor motionless. A double knock-down.  
  
Erik withdrew Sandopan from off the floor, sending out his last remaining fighter, Pijon. Shaking his head, Guy recalled Oudairu, but didn't send out another. "I'm all out." He said in a low voice, throwing his hands up. "That's makes you winner by default Erik." With a wave, Guy exited the room. The timer on the wall completed it's decay to zero, blaring a signal horn.  
  
He did it. He actually did it. Erik had just ran the gauntlet, and survived. Allowing Pijon to land on his shoulder, Erik sighed. Finally, he could relax a bit.  
  
  
End Episode #10  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
Fenix  
Agile, but easily damaged. Fenix, modeled after a coyote, relies on its speed to overwhelm the enemy and land a victory in a hurry.  
  
Cacular  
Ok, I did rip this guy off FF8. And just like FF8, Cacular is VERY fast and hard to hit. Not much in the lines of defense, but makes up for it in special attack. Typed as Water/Grass.  
  
Armouro  
While porcupines and hedgehogs are very similar looking in the real world, Armouro and Sandopan share few traits. Firstly, Sandopan has quills shaped like plates, whereas Armouro's quills are round (and can be fired off). Secondly, Armouro is quadripedal. Sandopan is bipedial. The thick mat of quills are normally laid down against its back, until required in combat. These are its main offensive weapon, considering how slow it can be.  
  
Falcor  
Small and fast is what Falcor is all about. This tiny raptor can inflict devestating injuries with Quick Attacks moving at speeds about one eighty (two fifty-five plus in extended freefall). However, Falcor is solely a high speed figher, and cannot battle in low speeds. Looks like a peregine falcon, with very dark purple-black feathers on its back. Typed Fighting/Flying.  
  
Raindeer  
Just like a caribou that roams the tundra. Not the fastest pokemon around, but solid enough. Favours to use horns and hoofs over the mid-level water and ice moves Raindeer carry. Typed Normal + Ice/ Water.  
  
Ice Cannon  
Spike Cannon merely coated with a layer of ice.  
  
Thousand Needle  
One good rain of cactus needles. No, there aren't a thousand needles fired during the attack and it doesn't strip off one thousand HP.  
  
Quill Strike  
A very dangerous attack to say the least. Fast, accurate and painful describe it perfectly. Should the quills sink into anything, they slowly dig in even further.  
  
Translations  
Parushen = Cloyster  
Gaadii = Growlithe 


	12. Episode #11 "Survival"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #11 "Survival"  
  
Calm winds blew across the waters of Lake Ontario, playing games with the loose strands of Kanna's dusty rose hair. For the day off between the rounds, Erik had decided to leave the competiton behind for a time. The Hell Zone took a lot out of him, as Erik more or less crashed into bed after the round, sharing few words to Kanna. That was most unusual, as the two often spent late parts of the night talking with each other.  
  
The small sailboat drifted slowly on the lake surface, leaving a rippling wake in its trail. The flapping of the main sail and sloshing of water against the hull provided the only sounds to Kanna's ears. On the deck she sat with her knees held tightly to her chest, gazing out over the dark blue horizon. A faint dull blue streak broke up the band, a freighter ship from the States. Kanna adjusted her khaki shorts in an attempt to get more comfortable on the fibreglass boat deck.  
  
Going topsides, Erik emerged from the cabin quarters under the deck, holding a towel and pillow. "Here, found this below deck." He said, tossing the things to her. "Thanks." She replied, grabbing the towel and giving it a flick to spread it out. Laying down on it, she sighed, finally having something good to lie down on. "This is much better."  
  
"Tell me about it." A voice, Erik's, came from the helm. Turning the spoked wheel, he set the direction of the boat before getting up onto the deck. "A day's rest is well needed."  
  
"Actually, I was taking about the stuff you brought up from below deck, but I guess you could use a day to regroup and recover."  
  
"Yep." He lowered himself onto the fibreglass deck, a hand on the metal railing.  
  
"Especially since you look so tense..." Pouncing like a cat, Kanna grasped onto Erik's shoulders, pulling him down. He landed softly across her stomach, with his head on the lower part of her ribcage. His shoulders were like clay in her hands, as Kanna massaged his stress away. "That feel better Erik?" A supressed grunt is all he could manage. Having found a relaxing position to be in, he felt himself drift off in to sleep. Kanna laughed to herself, at the fact Erik was asleep, lid down across her.  
  
But then it hit her. She had been in the exact same place before. Her face flushed a sudden red, and she was quick to draw a breath. Deep within the recesses of her memory, one bottled away suddenly was released. Tremblings set in with a fury, rocking all of her body. Taking a firm hold of Erik's shoulders, Kanna gives him a firm shake, lodging him from his sleep. "Erik!"  
  
"Whaaaa!" He cried, springing up, disturbed from his blissful nap. "Th... the... boat jusstt rocked..." She managed to say, lying as well as she could.  
  
"It did?" He didn't feel anything out of the ordinary, but then again, he was almost dead to the world. Kanna nodded once. "Just scared me, that's all."  
  
"There's no need to be scared anymore Kanna," His arms lightly embraced her body. "Because I'm here for you."  
  
That was another one. Oh god, why is this all coming back to me now? Kanna asked herself. With a vengeance, events of the past were breaking free and storming her mind. Everything was in a mess for her, and she felt the walls of stability crumbling under the wieght of sorrowful memories. Giving into her emotions once more, she buried her face into Erik's chest, tears streaming like a river. Arms clutch around him, pushing her face further into Erik, as if in a vain attempt to smother herself.  
  
Erik, stunned by the sudden outburst looks down at the sobbing Kanna for a few moments, trying to pick any reasoning behind what lay in his eyes. Shaking his head, he decides to leave that for some other time. Right now, he had to attend to Kanna in the only way he could, by allowing the emotions to run their course under the red setting sun.  
  
*************  
  
The remainer of the night was uneventful to say the least. Kanna had retreated to the quarters below deck, away from Erik. He had the damn sure feeling that she was avoiding him, as for why, he didn't know. Even when he retired for the night, she never spoke a word to him. And he knew that Kanna wasn't asleep.  
  
At the crack of dawn, Erik awakes and brings the sailboat into port. Only then does Kanna re-emerge from the bunks. "Kanna, you feeling alright today?" He inquires, sympathetic to her emotions and mental condition. Passing right by him, she shared no words, just stepping onto the pier.  
  
And the same happened on the taxi ride back into the Blue League complex. Kanna on one side, Erik on the other, and no words between the two. When Erik went to pay the driver, she bolted out of the cab. Quickly, he tossed the money to the cabbie, no caring about the few bucks worth in change. Something more important was on his mind. Kanna.  
  
"Wait for a minute Kanna!" He shouted out.  
  
"What do you want?" For a quiet voice, it carried the distance between the two. The physical distance that is. "I want to know what's wrong with you lately." He stated, finally catching up with her.  
  
"It's nothing."  
  
"It's not nothing."  
  
"It's something you wouldn't understand." He placed his hand gently on her shoulder. "But I want to understand." She ripped her shoulder away from his hand, still remaining back on. Her heart, mind, and soul were burning by a flame. "This is something you can't help me with." Collecting herself once more, Kanna ran off into the crowd, lost to Erik's eyes. He stood there, debating to go after her. More harm than good would come out of it, he thought.  
  
*************  
  
Kanna never returned back to the hotel room to see Erik off to his match. His nerves were on full alert, as Kanna usually calmed them before each round. But now, he had to go into a massive stadium filled with spectators, and no reassurance talk. Shaking his head, Erik brushed it off. He had no choice but to go on.  
  
Walking through the main lobby of the complex, a board with the match brackets was displayed on a wall monitor at least a few metres across. Numerous red SCRs were placed by competitor names. The unlucky survivors of the Hell Zone. They were the one's that succumbed to injuries and dropped out, hence they were scratched from the runnings.  
  
Scanning the board, he finds his name, E. Iverson, halfway through the left side slots. Looking to his competitor, Erik breathes a sigh of relief. In bold red, SCR. A bye. That really was a saving grace. One less match really could determine it all. At further investigation, nearly half the field had been reduced from the scratches. A bad run no less.  
  
A tap comes on his shoulder. "Kanna!" He exclaimed, turning on his heel, expecting his travel companion. Instead, he finds a videocamera and mircophone in his face. He felt let down to say the least.  
  
"Darren Dutchyshen actually." He corrected. "Mind if I get an interveiw Erik?"  
  
"Nah, go on ahead."  
  
"Ok, roll camera." Darren said, getting the camera man filming. "I'm standing here with the up-and-coming star, Erik Iverson. From complete unknown, this young Canadian has quickly risen, and many have stopped to realize that he is a force to be reckoned with. Erik, how do you think your chances are for winning this event."  
  
"Well, to be honest, their just as good as anyone else's really. I could go into a match, suffer a bad injury, and lose. It's just that simple." His comment did have a certain air of truth to it.  
  
"Yes, as we all saw in your last match of the opening round. Has that injury incurred by Sandopan affected your game plan coming into this last few matches?"  
  
"Not in the least Darren. I'm here to win, and if that means going all out no matter what to win, that's exactly what I'll do."  
  
"The spirit of a warrior lives on. Best of luck Erik."  
  
"Same to you Darren." The two shook hands, before Darren and his cameraman leave for another trainer to interveiw.  
  
*************  
  
The roar of the crowd was deafening. Hundreds of thousands of spectators all on their feet at once, shouting out anthems at once. Stepping out onto the converted clay turf of the Skydome, Erik felt like a gladiator marching out into the Collosium to fight in anamalistic combat, driven by adrenline and the fevourous cries of the audience. His weapon, the red and white capture balls held in place by scabbard clips on his belt. And like the warriors of olde, his only true armour were his wits.  
  
His opponent marched in from home plate normally was during a baseball game. Her shimmering gold hair rustled in the wind blowing down from the dome as it retracted. Shadows waged a losing war on the red orange clay against the invading light. Gradually, the front approached Erik's foot, and stopped. It was time to fight.  
  
The announcer introduced the trainers that will duel for the enjoyment of the wild frenzied mob. "Over from homeplate, is Kristy Lee." The crowd behind homeplate exploded with shouts and whistles. Many a teenaged boy enjoying well spent money on scalped tickets. Kristy turned to blow a kiss to her fans, which further riled them, if that was possible.  
  
"And over in centre field, Canada's own, Erik Iverson." The entire outer field quickly silenced the batch behind home, rising to their feet, shouting out encouragements and waving flags of white, blue, red and gold. With such a backing, Erik wasn't going to let them down.  
  
"This match is scheduled for six pokemon, no time limits. Let's get ready to ruummmbbbllleee!" Whatever section of the crowd that remained silent during the introduction of the trainers, definately wasn't now. The roar reached proportions to that of a large scale airport. The earth actually quivered under the shouts and motions of those in attendence.  
  
Kristy took a pokeball off her skirt belt, and just like that, the stadium quieted down to the volume of a high performance car. Kissing the ball for luck, she threw it in. "Perushian, go!" A parabolic dish picked up her voice from afar, playing it on the Skydome speaker system. The mountain lion stroked it's red gem once, picking itself off the clay ever-so-slowly.  
  
In his own way, Erik plucked a capture ball from his belt, and cast it into the squared circle. Red energy formed into that of Lupus. The old alpha female's underside was still burned and raw from the Gaadii's attack, but had healed up some what during the break. Her lips drew back, barring deadly daggers of hard white calcium enamel. Everyone was ready for combat.  
  
Current of wind swirled above the stadium floor, churning the air of turmoil into a state of intense organized chaos. "Perushian, Slash attack." Holding a prestine stance, the sleek panther rushed in at Lupus. Taking the blow, Lupus turned head aside. Opaque claws tore flesh just below her ear. A calculated tactic, sacrificing to gain. At such close quarters, counters were easily made. Snapping her body around, Lupus swiped at the cat. It was more of a smashing blow than a slicing cut. Impact sent Perushian's head in temporary motion, taking her off centre, and into a state of swaggering unbalance. Just for a few brief moments.  
  
Like lightning, Lupus went on the pure offensive. Lunging, she dove for Perushian's throat. Sharp teeth graze skin, not penetrating, but inflicting enough force to assert control. Taking a shift in weight, Lupus drug the cougar down on top of her. Right to where she wanted her victim. Then the vices clamped.  
  
Helpless, Perushian flailed about, struggling against the forces that robbed her of oxygen. The only thing the thrashing accomplished was to burn off more vital air than normal. Lupus had the cat by the most sensitive part of its body, and wasn't willing about to let go.  
  
The olive-green eyes of the Perushian began to roll back in their sockets as the last moments fleeted away from her. With her literal last bit of air, Perushian made on despirate plight to escape. Extending claws out to the potential, last blind slashes were made.  
  
Razor cuticles clawed through raw flesh. Perushian had struck her burns. Reacting sharply from extreme pain, Lupus lets go of the strangle hold, recoiling back in a thrash. Perushian rolls onto her feet, though still on the ground, panting hard, sucking in percious oxygen.  
  
The eyes of the ice wolf closed tighly, and her jaw locked in a grimace. Her chest was afire all over again. The inferno was engulfing her heart, over-riding all inhabitions she once had. Regaining her upright position, the wolf launched herself into a blitzkreig. Perushian saw the attack coming, but has held in fear by the flames of the eyes.  
  
Throwing all her weight around, Lupus ploughs into the side of Perushian. A dull thwack marked the crushing of her shoulderblade. The abrasive clay provides no remorse for the injured pokemon.  
  
Lupus herself was providing no remorse either. Opening her jaws, a sapphire blue sphere took form within. An Ice Beam... no something else. Taking aim, Lupus shot, sending off a thick, heavy colomn of ice. Everything in its wake was frosted over, including the mountain loin. Red laser retracts the fallen.  
  
Kristy quickly subbed in another pocket monster, staying silent. Scarlet energy forged the shape of a tall rodent. Slapping it's bolt-like tail onto the clay, the Raichu formed tiny veins of electricity over his cheeks. "Raichuu, thunderbolt." Paired fingers of yellow lightning streak from orange cheek pouches to their target, Lupus. She leapt back, evading the first as it whips by under, but got caught off-guard by the second, honing in on the blistered ribcage. Unconcious before she hits the ground, Lupus landed in a hard thud.  
  
Two handing it, Erik recalled and sent out at the same time, issuing Sandopan into duty. The ailing hedgehog did it's best to conceal the crippling injury to the ribs. Yet, a slight list to the side betrayed all his acting attempts. "Raichuu, Mega kick." Kristy wasn't about to let a type disadvantage ruin her bid for victory.  
  
Taking a swing, the tall electric mouse performed a swift roundhouse, only to connect with nothing but air. Sandopan had dropped back, putting distance between himself and the Raichuu. A medium range fight would be ideal for Sandopan in his current state. Driving a claw into the ground with the force of a jack-hammer, Sandopan jarred the ground. Minor divides split around the zone of impact, followed by a fast and furious temor. In a cloud of rising dust, Raichuu topples over, shaken around by the seismic energy.  
  
"Get up, and Body Slam it." With the motion of the clay ground subsided, Raichuu flipped back to his feet, darting toward Sandopan, taking a leap into the air. The hedgehog saw it's approach. Turning back on, Sandopan flared the plate quills off, creating a pin cushin for the decending mouse to fall onto. The crowd responded with a deep "ooh" as Raichuu bounces off the sharp back of Sandopan, onto the ground. Many slit marks appeared in red on Raichuu's chest, before a beam took him back to the safety of his capture ball.  
  
"Sandopan, return." To keep Sandopan out too long would be risky, considering his broken ribs. Best to only to use him when neccessary. He took refuge by Erik's side, charging back up for another assault at a later time. Removing a pokeball from his belt, Erik sent out Kanna's Rapurasu. She was still feeling the effects of the Nidoriino biotoxin, enough to make her nausous, but not enough to keep her from fighting.  
  
Kristy too sent out a new fighter. Erik grimaced at what it was, a Utsudon. Resting on the ground, the bellflower twitched the small green leaves attatched to it's thin body. "Razor Leaf." A slight rotation from the flower, throwing a disc-like blade of grass into the air.  
  
"Ice Beam it down." Erik ordered. A normal braided stream of ice shoots from Rapurasu mouth, coating over the leaf. Excessively weighed down, the frosted leaf fell to the earth, shattering. "Stun Spore." Shaking, Utsudon dispersed at thin cloud of blue dust into the air. Convection currents in the stadium direct the spores over Rapurasu, falling to the ill effects.  
  
"Sunny Day-Solar Beam!" A combo string like that could inflict substantial damage. The fact that Rapurasu immobilized physically didn't help the matter. Kristy had all the time in the world to charge up for a Solar Beam. Rays of the sun intensified under the influence of the first portion of the combo. Large spheres of pale green sucked into the bellflower's mouth, forging off the beam attack. And he could do nothing but wait, as Weepinbell let loose with the Solar Beam.  
  
"Concentrate a Psychic in front of you Rapurasu." Thankfully, her mind wasn't affected like the rest of her body. Deep purple psychic waves build up before her, right in the path of the incoming Solar Beam. The attacks collided, and the beam deflected around the sphere, away from Rapurasu. "Now shoot it." Utsudon stood stunned at the tactic as the Psychic approached, and hit. Shockwaves sent it into the air. Having the last laugh, Utsudon fired again at an open target. It had reserved a second round. This additional blast hammered into the vulnerable Rapurasu in a burst of light. Erik withdrew Rapurasu from duty, Pijon taking point.  
  
"Utsudon return." Kristy made a wise decision, and retracted her plant away from the battle. She had other plans for him, later. But for now, she would challenge Pijon in a game of aerial dominance. "Eaamundo, go!" Both birds were of the same size, and by the way they hovered in midair, were of similar combat styles. Type considerations might play a part, but this looked more like a dogfight.  
  
"Steel Wing." Eaamundo's normally crimson wings flared white. Pijon fell back from the swipe of a glowing wing, but it turns out to be broader than she anticipated. Metallic armour slammed into the artic bird's chest, knocking her back slightly. She countered with an Icy Wind, laying down a coat of frost onto Eaamundo's shiny armour, hindering its flight. Cold metal cracked as it moved, sticking slightly. Kristy shouted out an order. "Eaamundo, try a Razor Wind." Again, the great steel bird's wings shone in a bright light. A fast bringing together of it's wings created a powerful blast of air, filled with sharp debris. Defending, Pijon placed up an Ice Arc, shielding her from the wind.  
  
Answering back, she attacked with a Gust, blowing the shattered remnants of the arc towards Eaamundo. The hail stones bounce and crack off the tough armour hide, further cooling Eaamundo. It's flight was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain, as the metal contracted. Having such a disadvantage, Pijon could assume control over the skies. Moving in, she prepared to latch onto the iron bird, and throw it to the ground. Just as she grabbed Eaamundo, Kristy called out an unexpected order. "Drill Peck." Shock was written all over Pijon's face, as Eaamundo plunged a spinning beak into the artic bird's exposed chest. Losing her grip, Pijon fell back to earth. Erik recalled her.  
  
"Parushen, Spike Cannon." He shouted out, sending in a new pokemon. Fresh from the capture ball, the oyster fired a round. The single spike struck Eaamundo in the wing, breaking frosted metal feathers. Kristy quickly brought back her pokemon. Things were all tied up at three a piece for the young trainers. And the crowd was loving every minute of it all. Each blow brought them further out of their seats, rising to a frenzy.  
  
Kristy searched around her belt for the next pokemon to battle with. Erik was sure it was going to be Utsudon again. To his suprise, and relief, she sent out a Morufon. The pale lavendar moth fluttered in the air, flapping frail wings. Kristy carefully eyes the massive fractures in Parushen's shell, documenting them to memory for later, if she needed it. "Morufon, Gust." The flimsy wings of the moth kicked up a fast rush of air, tipping Parushen over.  
  
"Parushen, use Ice Beam." Flipping back over, using his shell as a springboard, the great armoured clam fires a beam of twisted ropes of ice. It's target shifted aside, allowing the beam to pass by. "Tackle attack."  
  
What was she trying to do? Erik thought to himself. "Clamp it once Morufon gets close enough." Before the poison moth can tackle into Parushen, he shut the outer shell, catching the bug in a vice. But Morufon wasn't struggling like it should be. Then it hit Erik.  
  
"Morufon, Psybeam." The tackle was only a ruse to get inside Parushen's fortress. In a brilliant flash of light, the two fly apart. Parushen spun like a top for a few moments, before coming to a stop, fainted from the proximity of the Psybeam. Morufon landed on the ground, a distance away, still concious. But not for long.  
  
Pointing a finger, Sandopan rushed the field. Touching his claws together, the hedgehog slashed at the downed moth. A thin blade of energy marked it's path through Morufon. And that was the end of him. Kristy retracted Morufon from battle. "Go, Utsudon." She called out, as the grass pokemon took shape for the second time in the match. This was her plan. A small stone lay attatched to the vine starting to grow out of it's head. A Solar stone. "Synthesis." From the sun, shot an intense ray of light. Not only was Utsudon regaining energy, but the stone obtained it's catalyst. The glow of the stone spread all over the pokemon's body, and the form change began. The glowing body shifted to a form similar to that of Madazubomi, only larger and with longer appendages. Light faded away, leaving the crimson red and green pokemon to speak it's name once in a dull hiss. "Venra."  
  
"Venra, Acid." The blood flower spat a blob of purple acid. Nimbly, Sandopan dodged the attack, as it burnt a pit into the clay. "Razor Leaf." Kristy wasn't about to stop her series of quick attacks. Flicking it's hands, Venra threw off spinning blades of grass, faster than it did when it was Weepinbell. Expertly using his claws, Sandopan knocked the leaves out of the air.  
  
Suddenly, Venra stopped throwing discs. Sandopan panted slightly after having deflected so many projectiles. "Solar Beam." She hissed. Venra's palms cupped together in front of it, gathering up the sun's rays. Now was the best time to strike for Sandopan. Yet he was uneasy about the whole procedure, Solar Beam and broken ribs played highly on his mind. On the ground lay the few Razor Leaves that had been thrown. An idea ran through his mind.  
  
Reaching down in a quick motion, Sandopan grabbed up a few discarded leaves, and threw them back at Venra. One stuck into the flowers thin body, shocking it at the sudden infliction of pain. So much so, that it lost focus, dropping the half-charged Solar Beam.  
  
Now stunned, Sandopan ran in towards Venra, sweep kicking the feet out from under the flower. It collapsed to the clay ground below, and was finished with another energy slash, much like Morphon.  
  
A bead of sweatrolled down Kristy's forehead. She had pulled out everything to avoid coming to this. "Foxfire, go." From out of the pokeball emerged the small red fire fox, bandaged up from a fight previous. Sandopan looked over the small vixen with dangerous intent. Again, he drove his claw into the clay ground. Tremors rocked through the stadium, throwing Rocon about. She landed on her side as the ground upthrusted. Kristy, knowing her fate, recalled her, ending the match.  
  
The outfield crowd rose to their feet, raising the roof for Erik's victory. Even over the loudspeaker system, the announcer had a difficult time proclaiming his win and the stats about the battle. It really didn't matter, he had won.  
  
*************  
  
Unlocking the door to the hotel room, Erik stepped in, turning on a light. That was odd. Kanna never used to go to bed this early, especially considering Erik just had a match in the late afternoon. As he walked into the bedroom, he noticed that none of her things anywhere. Only a letter on her bed, neatly made. Tearing the envelope open, Erik read the letter for any clue as to where Kanna was. Instead, he found only more questions.  
  
Dear Erik,  
  
I'm sorry, but because of circumstances beyond my control, I have to return back home. While our time together was short, I fully realize the potential that you, and your pokemon have. Erik, you have great determination, and a strong will, and we will meet again in the not too distant future.  
  
Aisutennyo Kanna  
  
  
End Episode #11  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
Venra  
An alternate evolution to Utsudon, using a Solar Stone. Rather agile, and all around dangerous.  
  
Wolfclaw  
Lupus' special move. Much like an upgraded Ice Beam. Nothing but pure cold energy.  
  
Translations  
Utsudon = Weepinbell  
Eaamundo = Skarmoury  
Morufon = Venomoth  
Rocon = Vulpix 


	13. Episode #12 "Last Stand"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #12 "Last Stand"  
  
He sat there on the edge of the bed, in the half darkness, trying to piece together the meaning of the letter. And if anything, pick up any reason as to why she left in such a hurry. Three of her pokeballs remained attatched to Erik's belt. This was highly unusual, even if Kanna's departure was urgent.  
  
Replacing the white piece of paper back into the envelope, Erik tossed it onto his bed. He had to remained focused on the present at hand, competing in the Blue League. And perhaps Kanna would be right, and they would meet again.  
  
*************  
  
Back in the main lobby of the Blue League complex, what was once a raging mob only a few days previous has now been culled severely down to a handful of trainers. The digital board displayed up the current brackets, the pairings for the day. Like yesterday, the board is littered off with the bold red SCR. Normally, or idealistically, 32 trainers would be left in Round 2, not only a handful in 4 and 5. It was just one of those years that nothing went right for the trainers, save for the very fortunate few.  
  
Erik looked for his name on the left half of the board, and sees his next opponent: L. Anderson. The name seemed familiar from some place, but it escaped him as to where he heard it before.  
  
Looking to the right side of the bracket told an even worse story. Only a pair of constestants remained, and were out on the field right now. A television to the side monitored all the action, as two battered pokemon wage war, running on fumes only. It was a wonder as to how either was still able to drag on despite all physical injuries.  
  
There were more important things to attend to. He had to get ready for his match, which was next in line.  
  
*************  
  
The stadium arena was just as how Erik left it, still as crowded, still as loud. "And now we have an all-Canadian battle." The announcer struggled to say over the rowdy crowd. Flags of red and white waved all across the stands as the two made the field, and were introduced. "In the outfield position, is the young Newfoundlander, Erik Iverson. And in the homeplate position, Nova Scotia's Lisa Anderson." All Erik saw was her blue and green attire, and glanced to the giant television screen, seeing an old rival, just as the announcer added, "but her friends call her Lise."  
  
Then it all made sense, where he had heard the name, and why Lise didn't battle him back in Halifax. She knew he had a chance to get into the last few rounds of the tournament, and wanted to keep her line-up a secret. Just for this.  
  
Ripping a capture ball off his belt, Erik cast in his first battler, Parushen. Lise took a bit more of a calmer approach in her tossing in of a blue and white capture ball. "Go, Orchin." A dome of tightly packed black spikes formed from the red energy. From under it rose up a small crab-like creature, sporting two small ublong pincer claws.  
  
The two adversaries glared down at each other for a brief few seconds, assessing any flaw that might show through. Then the orders came fast and furious.  
  
"Spike Cannon"  
  
"Pin Missile"  
  
Each pokemon released their best ranged attacks, starting the match into motion. Orchin's many small pines versus Parushen's one large spike. Clasping up his shell, Parushen sought refuge from the volley of pins, though some found their way through the cracks. Orchin too withdrew into its shell, leaving the hard calcium armour to take the brunt of the spike as it embedded in. Coming back out into combat, the two seem unfazed by the opening exchange.  
  
"Parushen, Takedown." Throwing it's weight around, the purple mollusk charged towards the sea-urchin. Lise noted the approach, and orders appropriately. "Vicegrip." A small claw reached out, hooking onto the right outer hull of the Parshen. This buffered the take-down, as the two slid a metre to a stop.  
  
"Now Slash it!" Lise yelled, now having Parushen at a disadvantage. Using the free claw, Orchin swiped, only to hit the calcium of the inner shell as it slammed shut. "Aurora Beam." The keep closed tightly still, Parushen's spire unleashed a pale rainbow beam directly into the vulnerable underside of the Orchin. Unlike his counterpart, Orchin had no second line of defense, something Lise realized as thick frost began to develop. "Orchin, return."  
  
That was one of her best, gone in the opening round. If it meant anything, at least Orchin lost to him. He was quick, no doubting that. Just have to over power him. "Go, Goruddakku." Cracking knuckles, a tall aqua blue duck took form.  
  
"Parushen, Spike Cannon. Keep it at bay." Fully opening up, the Parshen takes a quick aim. It wasn't quick enough. Acting on his own, Goruddakku unleashed a Psybeam directly into the exposed insides of Parushen. In a glimmer of light, the mollusk went down. Erik exchanged in a fast motion, going for Lupus.  
  
Wasting no time for passing glances, Lupus concentrated a tight orb of blue light inside her mouth. Erik recognized it from before, as she had used it on Gaaddi a few rounds back. Howling sharply, Lupus discharged the solid beam of ice.  
  
"Goruddakku, counter with Hyperbeam." Fanning webbed hands next to his forehead gem, the duck charged up energy, turning red into pale yellow. Crying his name once, Goruddakku too fired his beam attack, with less than spectacular results. Only a small thin sliver of energy came forth, leaving him stunned as the ice beam connected, partially freezing over it's head.  
  
Her target incapacitated, Lupus made one last attack. Milky white teeth glow over a dark purple as she bit into the midsection of the Goruddakku, a devestating Crunch. His eyes blinked twice, not to open again. Lise recalled it. Things were going ok, neither trainer had an advantage. More or less a trading of blows, albeit, a close one. Her next pokemon, a Mantain.  
  
The gray and blue manta ray glided gracefully towards Lupus. She too charged towards the ray. "Mantain, Slam!" Dropping down, the manta ray slammed it's girth onto the ice wolf, crushing her onto the clay ground, tearing at the burn wounds still healing. A beam brought Lupus back from her painful position.  
  
So it's an air battle she wants... Hurling a ball, Pijon took to wing. Though cut and scraped from the matches, the snow bird had faired well against most foes. "Mantain, Ice Beam." Intent on ending that streak, Lise ordered out her best attack for the situation. While Pijon was part ice, she still bore weakness to the element. That's if it hit.  
  
Performing her now famous barrel-roll, she awed the crowd as the beam passed by, purposely allowing it to narrowly miss for dramatic effect. Erik gave the snow bird a stern look, silently telling her to take this a bit more seriously. She nodded in understandment, and whipped off two fast Ice Darts.  
  
Lise grit her teeth for a split second. That was a new attack to her, one with a counter that escaped the mind. "Bubblebeam those to slow them down." That was the theory, though Lise was unsure if the tactic would work. Like a pin bursting balloons, the pair of darts broke down the flow of bubbles easily, sticking into the back of the manta ray, reopening up a deep wound. Sweating mildly, she brought the now bleeding pokemon into it's ball, having witnessed Pijon in true action. The rememdy for the ice bird laid in Lise's next selection, Satarumii.  
  
Not having fully taken form from the red energy, Erik saw her plot. The depth of his knowledge about pokemon told him exactly what was coming up. Breaking the usual battle style of his, Erik shouted out to Pijon. "Mirror Move."  
  
Once again, Lise grit her teeth. She should have know he'd see that one, but no matter. A thunderbolt can do alot of damage onto a flying pokemon, not to mention the possible paralysis. "Satarumii, Thunderbolt."  
  
Erik tensed up as he saw the ten-pointed star shoot off the bolt of electrical energy. Pijon had to hold on long enough to retalliate with a bolt of her own, and have a bit of payback on the seastar. Yet, things didn't go as planned.  
  
The bolt never hit.  
  
Milliseconds from striking, the bolt suddenly rebounded back to Satarumii. Veins of crackling thunder coursed through Satarumii. Lise cursed aloud at just the right volume for the mircophones to pick it up. Not that she cared at the time being. Explainations ran through her mind, though none added up. "Satarumii, Psychic. Don't hold back at all." Streams of indigo energy concentrate at the star's central core, building up a densely packed ball of light. "Fire!" With that order, Satarumii launched the attack, recoiling back from the sheer speed.  
  
"Do that again Pijon." Closing her eyes, the hovering artic bird focused her energy in front of her. Once more, attacks impacted and rebounded, this time however highlighting a wafer thin barrier of energy. A small secret understood, at the cost of a valuable asset. Drained from the exhausting psychic move, the deflected attack finished off Satarumii.  
  
The exchange of attacks continued on, favouring Erik slightly. Too many unknown variables were coming into play. Her status as a veteran didn't mean much to Erik's innovations, as the two were playing a little less than level field. Beads of sweat formed just above her eyebrow, as she brought another pokemon into battle. Her Kinguraa was to be a piece of AAA.  
  
"Kinguraa, Hyperbeam." Unlike Goruddakku before, the king crab had not seen as much duty time, and wouldn't fail in generating the attack. Aiming with it's larger claw, a yellow beam quicky fired. Pijon placed the reflective barricade up for a third time. The Hyperbeam crushed through the field, shattering it and hitting the generator, Pijon. Having downed two pokemon on her own, Erik retracted the ice bird. Beside Erik, Sandopan's anxiety grew. His turn was coming up, not right yet though. Jugon was next.  
  
The pearly white sealion raised his head high as the Kinger side shuffled closer. "Jugon, Tail Whip." That was not all with the commands. Out of the corner of his mouth, Erik whispered to the pokemon on deck. "Get ready." Digging claws into the clay for added traction, Sandopan prepared to rush the mound.  
  
Doing a sumersault, Jugon flipped around it's rubbery tail. The red crab evaded, side shuffling in a circle, back facing to Erik. An important mistake, if Lise didn't see it. She didn't. "Slash, Crabhammer." A combo of a cutting slash and a crushing hammer sentenced Jugon to blackness. Erik brung the sealion back from the field, leaving Sandopan to explode onto it.  
  
A leap propelled the hedgehog into the air. Sandopan held his left claw directly downward, crashing through Kinguraa's red shell on the impact. Lise recalled the crab out from under Sandopan. A good strategy, Lise thought to herself. Jugon nor Sandopan would have been able to dispatch Kinguraa without expending alot of stamina. Sacrifice one, to cleanly take out another.  
  
But, it was all down to this one. Most everyone in the stadium were at the edges of their seats, awaiting the final outcome of the match. "I should have used him from the very beginning..." Lise muttered under her breath as she summoned out her final pocket monster. The tall pink Yadokingu took shape, carefully adjusting it's heavy shell crown. Lise was going to end this match, just like she did the last. "Hydrus Cyclone!" A collective hush fell over the stadium. The cyclone easily rivaled Hydro Pump in terms of power. Just like last time, she mentally remarks to herself.  
  
But this was not like last time. Back in the first round, Sandopan was barely concious at the time the attack was used. Seeing the wide ring of water form, Sandopan took counter action, jamming his claw into the ground. Sharp tremors pulse from where he stands, travelling the dense clay. Irregular thrusts of the earth toppled the psychic, still set on completing the cyclone.  
  
Yanking his claw from the soil, Sandopan made a final charge at the fallen Yadokingu. Damn, she shouldn't have been so overly aggressive on that last attack, as her pokemon lay in an unfavourable position and a revenge-minded Sandopan bearing down at it. "Use a Psychic to slow it down, and get back up." Her voice carried a slight quiver. Up against the ropes was not Lise's usual place in a match.  
  
The psychic quickly weld a small purple orb at the rapidly advancing ground type. Coming to a sudden halt, Sandopan sunk his nails into the clay, bracing for the impact. Taking the attack directly on the shoulder, he barely budged an inch. Yadokingu hardly had lifted himself off the ground, and Sandopan was still barreling down. "Bubblebeam!" Lise was coming apart at the seams, now calling out orders in a despirate attempt to prevent Erik's pokemon from reaching her's.  
  
Holding out his only free hand, Yadokingu formed a orb of pale blue. Not letting up, Sandopan fired a small thin beam at the sphere, destroying the bubblebeam before it was even used. Yadokingu withdrew his wounded hand, finally righting himself onto two feet. And in time, as Sandopan stood not a metre from him.  
  
Her heart was racing. Glancing over to the other side, Lise noticed Erik, perfectly calm in the storm. That perhaps put Lise into an even more frenzied state of mind. "Headbutt!" Her usual grounded combat style had broken down in a hurry. One last look to Erik, and she saw him with a smile across his face.  
  
With a great swing of the massive shell crown, Erik knew he had the match won. Dropping down to the clay, Sandopan allowed the jagged crown to pass over, centimetres to spare. He wasn't finsihed there. Timing it up, he rolled onto his back, and pushed off with his arms. Both clawed feet land into Yadokingu's face, sending him backwards. The crowd arose to their feet, shouting in excitement, when the Yadoking did not.  
  
Erik threw a fist into the air in victory, as Sandopan rushed to him, jumping up into his arms. The two had won, and were celebrating as if they had taken the competition. Yet still more remained...  
  
*************  
  
"Hello, and welcome back to TSN's coverage of the Blue League competition. I'm Vic Rauder. Gino has the night off." Vic starts off as the cameras begin to roll. "Five days ago, we started off with hundreds of trainers, all seeking a common goal. A few days ahead of schedule, we find ourselves at that goal, the title of Blue League champion. Arugably, this has been the worst year on record for trainers dropping out of the tournament. But, the two trainers left standing, one could say, are the best of the best. Hard trials and labours both have had to endure to get to this point. Each in their own right deserves the title, but only one can have that honour. Darren Dutchyshen joins us from the site of tomorrow's intense battle."  
  
To the left, a single large television monitor clicked on, showing Darren in a dimly lit stadium. "It's quiet here now Vic, but in another few hours, this place will be alive to the shouts and noise of thirty-five thousand onlookers. They will be witness to one of the greatest spectactles in sports today. Two young men will take the field, and do battle. I've talked to both in question, and it's safe to say that this will be a match not soon forgotten..." Erik turned off the TV in the hotel room.  
  
He just couldn't seem to get any sleep, no matter what he tried. Neither could Sandopan. Each knew of the importance the next twenty-four hours would bring. That was something they had spent ten years of their lives together training for.  
  
Tapping the bed a bit, Erik signaled to Sandopan to come over. As the tan hedgehog landed on the bed with a bounce, Erik reminds himself one last time forget about it all for just a minute and get some sleep, and closes his eyes.  
  
Thoughts still hung in his mind all through out the night. Thoughts of winning, thoughts of losing. Thoughts of his mother, thought of his father. Thoughts of Kanna.  
  
*************  
  
Stepping foot inside the stadium for one last time, brought the rush of hearing thousands in attendance. Erik felt tired, excited and nervous all at the same time. Unsettling summed it all up in a word. The air felt unusually warm, despite the time being 11:00am. Or was it just him. Along side Erik, Sandopan seemed to be going through the same experience. Enternity and a day was what it seemed to take to reach the trainer box, although in reality it was only a few metres from the door way. On the other side, Erik's final opponent entered. His shag green hair rustled in the light breeze as he made his way to the rectangular trainer box. To Erik, he seemed totally at ease in the current situation. Whether this was a mind game of his remained to be seen.  
  
For formality purposes, the national anthems of both competitiors home countries are played over the loudspeaker systems. In quiet reverence, the stadium fell to a hush, with signs and caps removed from sight. Hearing 'O Canada' settled Erik down a bit. Anything to calm his frayed nerves was welcome.  
  
Then came the trainer introductions. Erik shut his mind out for a bit, trying to calm himself down in anyway. The only thing he picked up is his opponents name, Billy Sheas. He had heard that name before, from last year's competition. This was not going to be an easy match by any measure.  
  
At the sound of the horn, the match commenced.   
  
  
End Episode #12  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
Orchin  
Take a sea-urchin and cross it with a Kurabii, and this is what you get. Very slow, but the defensive factor provided by the hard spiked shell more than makes up for it.  
  
Mirror  
Pijon's varient of Mirror Move. Reflects the attack back at the user, but only on certain energy attacks. 


	14. Episode #13 "Unlikely Allies"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #13 "Unlikely Allies"  
  
A final breath of air, and Erik threw his pokeball into the ring. Pijon appeared, flapping her icy blue wings. Billy, responding to Erik, sent out his pokemon, an Aquila. It was a fully mature one at that, having grown the characteristic white head and tail feathers.  
  
Pijon's main flight feathers began to glow a light blue. "Wing Attack." Billy calmly ordered. Two long darts of pure ice came shot forth from a swing of the wing. Aquila hovered in mid-air as the darts approached. With two mighty swipes, broke the attack. Shards of shattered ice fell to the clay ground.  
  
"Aquila, Takedown." He said, in an unwaivering tone. Flapping his muscular wings, the great raptor rushed toward the hovering ice bird. Pijon quickly wipped up a funnel of cold air, but Aquila flew right through it, tackling sharply into her. Thick black talons tore deep gashes in flesh. She attempted to retaliate back with an Ice Beam. That idea was terminated by two blunt blows delivered by Aquila's wings.  
  
Not a good way to start this off. Pijon was his best air fighter, but was just mauled by Aquila's pure strenght. He had more ice types in reserve, Aquila would fall. He tossed out Rapurasu's capture ball. Raising her slender gem blue neck, she lightly sighed. "Rapurasu, Ice Beam."  
  
A single gust was what Aquila created in an effort to redirect the path of the incoming ice. True it's path stayed, covering much of Aquila in a cold shell. Billy swapped in pokemon, stunning Erik with his selection: A Saidon, swaying it's great bone horn around in the air.  
  
"Surf." Erik would have to dispatch this one fast. From around Rapurasu's body, a wall of water formed. "Fissure." Was Billy's counter. His great bone rhino leapt into the air as best a half tonne creature could, crashing back down to earth. A thin wall of rock, several metres long, jutted up from under the clay, acting like a dam to the water as it held it back.  
  
The two were temporarily seperated from the other, Rapurasu in her mini-resevoir and Rhydon behind the blockade. That meant Rapurasu had the advantage because of her ranged attacks, unless Saidon knew Hyperbeam, which it most likely did. "Rapurasu, Water Gun."  
  
"Saidon, Fissure again." Poor Rapurasu never got the opportunity to fire her gun at Rhydon, as a similar thin vein of rock emerged from under the ground. Erik recalled her, not wanting to even think of the injuries sustained.  
  
He made sure to send out Jugon into the still damp section of the field, although most of the water had spread out. Such a environmental change, however small it may be, might have a use later on. "Saidon, Horn Attack." Ramming through the stone wall as if it were soaked rags, the bone rhino charged toward Dewgong, each step rattling the clay ground.  
  
"Jugon, combine your Aurora and Bubble beams." Lowering his head, the white sealion merged two attacks together at the tip of his horn, creating a dull pink sphere circled by a ring of blue. In a small flash of light, a stream of waterbubbles tightly packed around a core of ice erupted from the horn. The beam struck in the Saidon's chest, eroding away the bone armour and freezing into the pit. Clutching it's frozen armour plate, the Saidon toppled over.  
  
Billy took a brief second to catch his breath, before turning his next pokemon loose. The tall yellow skinned Denryuu towered over Jugon. Oh god, not this. Erik cursed to himself, as the garnet orb attached to it's tail crackles in electrical energy. A single arc snapped from tail orb to wet clay. And Jugon happened to be on said soaked clay. One twitch, and he collapsed into a heap.  
  
"Now." Erik's words were curt and to the point. This was Sandopan's turn in the battle order. The hedgehog threw himself head long into battle. Billy simply ordered one thing of his Denryuu. "Thunderpunch." The attack order so silent, it barely covered the distance between the trainer and pokemon, but the message was conveyed. Fist crackling with electrical energy, the tall yellow ram threw his fist down into the wet clay, discharging a fan of craggy whisps. Skillfully, Sandopan jumped over the spread of thunder, slashing into the attacker as he decended. The quick swiped knock Denryuu back a few paces, allowing Sandopan to land, and complete his triple combo with a fast, but lethal, Earthquake. The ram's legs buckled under the rumbling ground, emitting a distinct cracking sound. A fast change up is enacted by Billy. "Bakufun, go." Erik responded in kind. "Sandopan, back." His hedgehog made way for another pokemon to enter the field, Parushen.  
  
Billy's lanky fire bear stood high and prominant on its two hind legs, towering over the compact Parshen. "Tackle." Bakufun made a charge at the heavily armoured oyster. Not taking a single order, Parushen opened up his shell further, and shut it around the flaming bear. A flashback of a fight previous hit Erik hard. Parushen was once in the exact same position, back in his fight with Kristy Lee. "Oh no. Parushen, let go."  
  
But it was in vain. "Flare Detonation." Billy's words came devoid of any tone, near lifeless. Bakufun, caught in the damp clutches of Parushen, brushed it's fiery fur together. Before the mollusk could react, a red-white explosion consumed the pokemon. Chunks of calcium armour rained from ground zero as the smoke receeded, leaving a broken Parushen in it's wake. What Armouro had damaged earlier, was completely blownoff. All that was left of the once mighty armour, was simply a pair of shattered quarter hulls.  
  
"Get in there." Erik rasped under his breath, recalling Parushen. As to which as burning hotter, Bakufun's fur or Sandopan's rage, remained argueable. Marching like a soldier moving in for war, Sandopan took to the field, an aura of intimidation all over him. A deep guttoral cry broke free of bodily restraints, and escaped into the air. He was off in a sprint. "Bakufun, Swift." Three stars stealthfully shoot from the flame bear. Tucking himself up into a ball, Sandopan became a rolling ball of flat quills breaking up the Swift stars up contact. He broke out of the roll, propelling himself into the air, hacking a claw across the face of Bakufun.  
  
"Flamethrower." A stream, no a flood of scarlet fire burst from the bear's mouth, pouring over Sandopan. The hedgehog did his best to repress any angish felt, though it was of no use. Light brown flesh burned, turning a raw red, and a blistered charcoal. Pressing claws together, pain was returned in full, as Sandopan swing downward.  
  
The thick beam blade was like no other produced, and would have surely beheaded the Bakufun had it hit the neck and not the base of the shoulders. The deep flesh wound exposed virgin bone to the cruel air, washing waves of agony through out the bear's body. It sank claws into the soften clay, thrusting forward with the top part of the head outstretched. Sandopan saw this coming, and with a single spin kick, leveled the incoming bear.  
  
Billy retracted his pokemon, calmy despite nearly seeing it killed twice from the same pokemon. Taking one pokeball from his belt, Billy knew he could end everything in a few short attacks. "Kairyuu!" His deep shout carried through the stadium, almost not needing a microphone's assistance. A hush fell over the crowd with the appeareance of the pale orange dragon, afloat on pathectically small wings for the size of her body. For any that managed to capture a dragon, the rewards, as see, far out weighed the effort to raise them. Her shrill mornful cry split the air cleanly.  
  
"Hyperbeam." Again, the whisper light volume. Two antennae high atop her head flickered in a lightstorm, the Kairyuu's special form of hyperbeam. Orange lids closed over hazel eyes, the storm growing all the more intense. A small sphere appeared in the space between the antennae, and fired. It wasn't a solid beam like most others, more like a thick mass of blue-black bolts forced into the cylindrical shape of a beam.  
  
Sandopan slowly dig his claws into the clay, expecting the worst. What he got was much worse than the worst. The bolt beam struck heavily into his flesh, ripping though like a barb wire yanked against bare skin. Each and every component of the twisted mass bore and slashed an already beleagured body. To his knees he fell.  
  
But no! That would not be the end of him. Sheer mental endurance surpassed physical exhaustion, rising his body from the grave. "Again." Listening to her master, the great dragon fired the beam once more. The lacerations worsened, brown skin staining in ruby red. The pain of torture increased to hellish proportions. But still he rose.  
  
"Again." Billy's voice turned harder, aggitated at the fact that it didn't fall from the first beam. The third bolt brought a splattering of scarlet across the field, now staining the brown clay. Some of the stadium voiced their opinions of this shameful onslaught, hurling words of four letters at Billy and his dragon. "AGAIN!" His voice carried the essance of rage and hate. A forth massive bolt attack sprang from the lightstorm. Heavy thorn whips of energy shredded mangled flesh. The life was fading fast, as was the light of his existance. Once last cry of war and a thrust of his claw. A tragic splash in a pool of blood silenced the crowd for the briefest of instances.  
  
And then it all broke down. Countless members in the audiance all throwing obsensities at once. A match had descended into utter anarchy. Erik boiled in rage, clutching a capture ball in his hand so tighty it could have shattered to pieces. Every muscle in his body cried bloody hell as his recalled the near gravely wounded Sandopan.  
  
"You bastard!" Erik yelled, releasing his final pokemon. Thin foil wings flapped against his iron sides. The great Silver dragon turned to look at Erik, noticing the pool of blood on the clay. He recognized it from a place distant in time. His eyes met with Erik's. Then and there, he saw something hidden deep within his eyes, and something he had failed to see before. Looking back around, the Silver dragon's gaze of molevalence etched through Kairyuu. "You shalt die." Three words preceeded a wide burst of pure blue-white energy. Ungodly speed it possessed, and left zero reaction time for the great marine dragon. A dull thud accompanied a bloodflower. The once proud Kairyuu plummeted to her knees.  
  
The assault continued. Multitudes of thin blue-white beams shot from the Silver dragons mouth, merging at the crippled dragon in a nova-like explosion. When the light died down, the body of the dragon lay, just like Sandopan, on the absolute brink of life.  
  
A pindrop could be heard. Nobody fully comprehened the brutal abuse of two pokemon. But still they watched. "Have you had enough?" The Silver dragon bellowed. "Or must I destroy another?" Through his commanding voice, the dragon made the full impression clear he was not too be taken lightly.  
  
"I... I..." Billy stammered.  
  
"Out with it!"  
  
"I forfeit." His words barely audiable, Billy Sheas retracts the broken remains of his Kairyuu. Erik, for what it mattered, and won.  
  
*************  
  
"Get out of my sight." Erik cursed at the media, as his pushed his way through a swarm of reporters. All the same questions and mic shoving in his face began fraying nerves. "How does it feel..." One started off in the usual manner, until Erik cut him off.  
  
"How would it feel if I shoved that mic clear up somewhere. And for the last time, get the cameras out of my face." That was not a warning, as Erik swiftly elbowed the nearest videocam into the person operating it. The security line didn't come quickly enough, for both parties involved. A few more mangy reporters fell to his offense before reaching this line of security guards at the airport. Like a dam, the men in blue did their best to hold back the paparatzzi.  
  
"Damn idiots, give them a mic and they trade in their decency." Erik cursed to himself for the nth time, flashing the airport personnel his plane ticket and passport. His flight was bound for South America. Caracus, Venezula to be exact. On the reverse side of that note Guy had given to him a while back held information on the global leagues. The Purple League his next destination.  
  
The stewartess took his coat and bags, placing them into the overhead. He would have a long flight to maul a few things over in his mind. For one, the fessiability of Sandopan ever competing again. Billy's Kairyuu had beaten him to within the last inch of his life. If he was to ever battle again, the recovery time would be astonishingly long and hellish.  
  
Then came the other main though on his mind. That silver dragon. Erik had expected him to attack, but not with such blatant disregard for another's safety. Granted, he did what Billy did, but that was besides the point. Though, the dragon seemed to act on his own feel will to assist Eric, which was most puzzling. Even more so, was the look he gave him before tearing apart Kairyuu. It was like he knew him from somewhere, sometime.  
  
*************  
  
Deep in the heart of a sweltering jungle, a great beast rested, until now. Rising, broad scales of blood scarlet reflected in the light pouring in through openings in the ceiling and walls. Slowly, the beast marched to the nearest window in the wall, looking out at the emerald tree tops of the tropical plants. "They are coming..." That was all it said.  
  
  
End Episode #13  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
Aquila  
The biggest raptor around, easily capable of hauling down most aerial fighters, ie Erik's Snow Pidgeon. Actually, there are two types of Aquila. The North American sub-species (the one in this chapter), based off Bald Eagles, and the European sub-species, which are based off the Golden Eagle. The main difference, the European is slightly larger.  
  
Aurora Bubblebeam  
Similar to a Bubblebeam, just with a core of ice replacing the water beam that the bubbles surround.  
  
Hyperbolt  
A variant to the normal Hyperbeam. Comprised of many small jagged beams, designed to slash and tear flesh.  
  
Translations  
Denryuu = Ampharos  
Bakufun = Typhlosion  
Burakki = Umbreon  
Kairyuu = Dragonite 


	15. Episode #14 "New Challenges"

Glory's Long Road Episode #14 "New Challenges"  
  
The long flight brought some rest for young Erik. And some time to reflect on things past. Like the final round of the Blue League. Never before had his emotions broke free with such vigor. Rarely did Erik ever curse, so it was surprising to himself that he said what he did to Billy. Perhaps it was the cruelity that his Kairyuu inflicted upon his Sandopan that caused it all. Seeing one's best ally beaten to within the brink of existance can make a person so things that they normally would not.  
  
The image of Sandopan's bloody unconcious body was burned into his mind, and still haunted him. The Kairyuu's Hyperbolts had inflicted horrible damage unto his best, taking him out of the line-up for months to come. That was not all that mystified him about the last match of the tournament. It was that silver dragon. Back in Labrador, it seemed as though it wanted to kill him, or atleast disobey every command given. A few weeks later, it nearly slays another in combat, no questions asked.  
  
Now, he could have been acting on his own free will, which had nothing to do with Erik's intent. But that look the dragon gave Erik, it rose hairs on the back of his neck for some reason. It was the type of look a person gives after finding something that they had been spending so much time looking for. As soon as the plane landed, questions were going to be asked.  
  
*************  
  
The plane touched down on schedule, with Erik making a quick exit after retreving his things from the overhead compartment. News of what had happened back home had yet to reach South America, and Erik was thankful for it. No bothersome media hounds on his back asking a million and one questions at the same exact moment. Free of any hassles, except for the usual ones intercontinental travelers had to put up with, Erik made as speedy a getaway from the airport as possible. His next stop was the hotel, booked in advance from Toronto.  
  
The cab he picked out got him there rather fast, passing by the waterfront property on route to the hotel. Things were nice, different from back home. So much more fancier, for the tourists that fed vital money into the economy. Coming to a stop outside the hotel, Erik passed the fare to the driver, getting out onto the lush carpet that lead into the main hallway.  
  
This hotel had been defined as one of the cheaper ones available with open rooms, but the word "cheap" must have been relative to the highrise ones on the waterfront. The floor was a light hardwood, which also covered the walls with an intricate handcarved pattern. Small potted palm trees and works of local artwork gave the lobby a feeling homeliness, like a small bed and breakfast.  
  
He went to the receptionist, picking up his room key. Wasting no time, Erik made his way to the room, threw his things down beside the bed, and removed the red and white capture ball from his belt. "Time to get a few questions resolved." He muttered to himself before releasing the silver dragon. The same indifferent look came from the eyes of the metallic dragon. "What do you want."  
  
"I want some answers, now!" Erik made sure to put emphasis on the last part of his statement. He was not in the mood to get a run around. "Go ahead, ask away." It snorted.  
  
"What the hell are you?"  
  
"Something that you can not comprehend..."  
  
"Just give me a straight answer dammit." Erik snapped, while his finger traced around the black ring of the ball. The silver dragon flinched, knowing Erik had a significant power adavantage over him. Breathing a sigh, the great metal dragon gave in. "My name is Chromium, a great dragon borne long ago. Is that all?"  
  
Erik wasn't satisfited just that. "No, it is not. Why the hell did you help me back there, and not earlier?"  
  
"I felt like it..." The dragon's deep voice carried an unmistakable tone of truth, which agitated Erik futher. "You did it, just because. What kind of attitude is that?"  
  
"The one I live with."  
  
"Isn't that just great. An attitude like that kills people." A forced sigh came from Erik. The more he got to know that dragon, the more he began to hate him. He turned on his heel, back to the great Chromium. "And what was with that look you gave me just before you tore into Kairyuu?"  
  
"It was nothing."  
  
"Are you telling me the truth?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Good. I'll be leaving you here for now, Chromium." Over his shoulder, Erik tossed the red and white ball to the silver dragon. "If you need a rest, that capture ball is there for you."  
  
The sarcasm in his voice was heavy and evident. "You are truly too kind Erik..."  
  
*************  
  
The sign-up procedure for the Purple league didn't differ much from the Blue League, even the language barrier didn't seem to be much of a problem. The neccessary papers were filled out, leaving Erik with plenty of time to explore around complex. Hardwood flooring of ebony and oak lined the hallways and walls. Unlike back home, the use of steel had been religated to the more traditional door knobs, and the occasional window framing. A more refreshing outlook to say the least.  
  
A small cafe lay on the far east side of the complex, one of the few places for the trainers to spend time in between the rounds. Some sat at the bar, sharing a soft drink and old battle stories amongst themselves. To the left of that was a wall of tempered plate glass, the direct observatory of the arena below.  
  
From where he stood, Erik could make out most of the battle field. It was more of a pit than anything else. Steep ten metre walls formed the two hundred seventy-five metre square arena. On each side, a small trainer box was situated for those participating in the event. Stadium seating started just a short distance from the edges of the pit, giving even the highest of arena a good vantage point for the action. The early watchers started to take their seats, awaiting the morning practice and warm-ups. For them, it was a good opportunity to grab an autograph of a favourite trainer. For Erik, it was a chance to order up some decent food, and scope out the competition.  
  
*************  
  
A great metal claw batted the small sphere clear across the hotel room. Chromium was not very fond of the young boy he was stuck with. He was for the most part, highly anti-social, prefering to keep in solitude. The less contact with others he had, the better off he was. With respect to the human that 'laid claim' to himself, the thought of fast Hyperbeam shot through his mind. After all, he was only a human. Such a weak and pathetic creature stood no chance against an attack of that magnitude.   
  
But, if that human was so weak and pathetic, then why was he controled by the human. An intresting piece for thought, although it further pissed the Silver off. He would have to keep that rage throttled. The boy had a purpose, and for now would have to live. However, the moment he outlived his usefulness, he would be fair game.  
  
No, wait. Another venue of though came to Chromium. Perhaps the boy wasn't who Chromium thought him to be. Yes, exactly. Disprove that ancient tale. That would be it, if it was false, then Chromium wouldn't have to relive Hell. But, just how would he do that? The great steel talons rapped on the flooring, as the Silver dragon plotted to himself.  
  
*************  
  
As Erik sat in the front of the plate glass observatory room, he noticed the stands around the arena fill up with spectators. Intrigued to say the least, he took a small rule book from his inner jacket pocket. There, on the first page he turned to in the slim book was a single line printed in bold letters. "All Purple League competitions shall commence on the first Sunday of June." He read aloud to himself. A short check of the watch on his wrist confirmed it was a Sunday, the first of the month.  
  
Erik sighed slightly, having not realized how close he had been to missing the cut-off time. That would not have been a good thing to miss the entire competition. An unforced habit of his perhaps, barely dodging deadlines for entry. He was in, and that was all that mattered. Turning a bit in his chair, Erik repositions his belt, hand brushing past the only pokemon on his active roster, the Snow Pijon.  
  
Lucky for Erik, that was all the league required. The matches consisted of four trainers battling each other at the same time with a single pocket monster. That explained the odd styled field. During the break in between matches, he would have to refill his line-up with new pokemon. A few exotic jungle pokemon would add great depth to his mainly ice type assortment.  
  
The complex announcement system came to life, with a distinctive tone. "The first of day's matches are about to begin. All those registered for this battle, please proceed to the battlefield now." The same message played over in another language, possibly Spanish, before listing off the names of trainers. The very last one was Erik's.  
  
*************  
  
Standing on the dark blue panel on a side of the field gave Erik a sence of vertigo. Over the edge was a ten metre drop nearly straight to the hard surface below. But it did give the trainers the best possible perspective of the entire area. A good thing.  
  
The other three trainers took to their places, capture balls in hand. The proximity to the crowd was much different than that of the Blue League. With low and close stadium seating, almost every comment of the crowd could be made out. But still, he had to maintain his composure.  
  
"Trainers, take your marks. Commense!" Four pokeballs dropped down into the battlezone, spilling their contents out. A green and oddly marked Neiteio stood on the northside. White wings tipped in red and black arch around it's body. To the east trainer, and her graceful Kyucon sat attentively, awaiting orders. The multitailed fox was a gleaming ivory all over, except for the dark burnt orange at the base of the tails. Striking eyes analyzed the large boar across from her. Thick fur covered the Inomuu, leaving tusks and eyebrows as the only visible features.  
  
Every detail Pijon noticed from her higher vantage point in the air. She had a rough idea of what would happen after the first round of attacks.  
  
"Flamethrower! Right at the pig."  
"Take Down the Kyucon."  
"Confuse Ray them all."  
  
All three commands got through to their respective pokemon. Inomuu started off his semi-blind charge at the fiery fox, which was now breathing out streams of heat. The psychic bird was a pale glow, prepping up it's disabling attack. Pijon was the last to go on the offensive. Shifting her centre of gravity ahead, the icy blue bird streaked down into the bottom of the pit. A hard pull up to a level flight, and Pijon twisted in mid-air, connecting with the boar. Such a heavy body check deflected the brown pig away from it's original target, and directly into Neiteio, just as the Confuse Ray was released. In a twisted mass of fur and feather, both are knocked senseless.  
  
Pijon eyed the twitching pair, lying in a heap off to one side. But there was one thing she momentarily forgotten about, the Flamethrower. In a hurried act, Erik swatted to the side wih his hand open, as if warning Pijon to strife away. As if she had seen the motion, the artic bird dodged from the intense heat, though still cinging feather tips. Tips that shone like blue points of light, releasing four thin ice darts in a fluid motion of a wing. All pass overhead as the fox dropped down to the ground. Taking a wide path, the artic bird positioned herself between the fire fox and the dazed pokemon.  
  
"Fireblast."  
"Come on, get up."  
"Use that berry!"  
  
The great nine tailed fox rose back to her feet. In a high pitched squeel, Kyucon spat out the enblazed cross at Pijon. The slow moving attack was easy to dodge for the snow bird, gaining altitude in a flash. The other two were not so lucky. The fire cross wrapped itself around the pair, raising the temperature to a short term extreme before dissapating away. A small puff of smoke excaped from Neiteio's beak, having eaten the berry while on fire. Both out cold.  
  
Now several metres into the air, a thin sheet of ice vapour condensed around Pijon. Kyucon glanced up in time to see the wall of ice bomb down on her. Sharp bits of ice broke free from the arc, making small cuts and melting all over the fiery pelt. She roared out in pain, and snapped at the ice bird the second the wall fell. A slap in the snout is what Kyucon got, and not a mouth full of feathers. Her head was pushed aside by the wing attack, but came back breathing out another Flamethrower. A wise counter came from Pijon. A simple Icy Wind. The short lived flames melted the snow in the attack to rainwater, which dumped over the sensitive fox' back.  
  
Barely had she enough energy to retaliate. That bird couldn't be taken down by normal means. So if she was going down, someone else was coming along too. Her eyes shut open, burning an intense orange. The glow spread quickly over the fox' body, giving her the appearance of being on fire. An effect completed by actual tongues of flame burning on Kyucon's fur. In a sudden, silent explosion, the flames shot off from Kyucon into the immediate area. Pijon happened to be in that region. Thrown back by the heat generated shockwave, the ice bird skidded to a stop on her back, smoking just a little bit. Lightly, the bird shakes her head, maintaining her senses. Metres away from her, the Kyucon collapsed from exhaustion, joining the other two pokemon.  
  
  
End Episode #14  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
Translations  
Kyucon = Ninetales  
Inomuu = Piloswine  
Neiteio = Xatu 


	16. Episode #15 "Blazing Heart"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #15 "Blazing Heart"  
  
Perfect. Erik thought to himself as he crouched down a dense leafy bush. Directly in front of him, a small Nazunokusa lay, carefully tending to a wild flower. His hand found Pijon's ball, letting the ice bird out. Remaining silent, Erik pointed to the unaware bulb. Pijon knew the rest. Like a sniper, she stealthfully stuck Nazunokusa with a single Ice Dart, rendering it out of commision. All Erik had to do was take the easy capture.  
  
"Good work." He praised Pijon as she deposited the red and white orb into his hand. The Kereihana that the Nazunokusa would eventually evolve into would add an extremely agile land attacker to back Sandopan. Being a pure grass type also put extra depth into Erik's line up of mostly Ice elementals. Not a bad start to the capture blitz.  
  
The Purple League still went on back in the city, but Erik wasn't due up until the final Battle Royal. That took place two days from now, leaving Erik with plenty of time to stock up his rotation. But, it had been several hours since he had ventured into the dense jungle forest, and that Nazunokusa was his first capture. Plenty of Utsubon and Neitei had crossed his path. They were good fighters in their own right, just not what Erik was looking for. Utsubottou had too little defense for how slow it was, and a fully matured Neiteio would be easily out-classed by the immature Pijon, let alone an impressive adult Snow Pijott. Too much sacrificed for too little in return was the case. Safe to say that Erik was exceptionally picky. Then again, with the aspirations that he had, being selective was the only real way to go.  
  
His eyes quickly scanned the broken horizon that he could make out from the gaps in the canopy. A majestic Rainbow Pijott took off from a distant tree top. That would be a capture. The stat alignments that one of those rare sub-species had could out do his own Artic, with proper upbringing. Two aerial fighters competiting against one another surely would raise both to skill levels neither could do alone. That was if he found one in the first place.  
  
Putting that into the back of his mind, Erik continued to survey the what he could of the distant terrain. Far back into the jungle, perhaps a good thirty of forty kilometres, was an unusual looking formation. Almost like one of those ancient Aztec temples he read about in an old nature book so many years back. To him, it didn't look as if it was touched by human hands in a very long time. Not having any other place to go to, Erik decided to make that a destination. A great place to stay the night, as it was sheltered and isolated. And there was also that chance of running into that Rainbow Pijott.  
  
He took a single step in the direction of the ruins, to the sound of a capture ball spliting open. To the right of him was the silver dragon. "What are you doing out here?" Erik half-shouted. The great steel dragon gave no reply as his head rose up, and scanned around, though not with his eyes. Chromium stopped, and snorted. He had found his target. "Follow me." It was not a simple request. Much more like a demand. Hauling his great bulk ahead of Erik, his hard eyes shot back. Whatever. Erik thought, joining in the silent march through the jungle.  
  
For several kilometres, the terrain was flat, and only rolled slightly. However, nearly twenty-five kilometres in, the incline rose more and more to the vertical as Erik and Chromium pushed onward. Lush rainforest gave way to barren rock face. Considerable talons of the silver dragon allowed him to drag the heavy bulk up a winding path against the rising rock. Erik followed behind. "Where exactly are you taking me Chromium?"  
  
"You'll see in a few more kilometres, trust me." Chromium spoke, not bothering to turn back or break stride. "Why the hell should I trust you anyway." Erik did have a point. Up to this moment, the silver dragon hadn't exactly instilled any confidence nor trust in Erik.  
  
"You trust me enough to let me out every so often, isn't that adequate?" Whatever. Erik wasn't too tolerant of the dragon's attitude, and an arguement with him wouldn't accomplish much. He just wished for the peak to break, ending the climb. As if on cue, the rock face sloped off. Loud metal clanks of Chromium's armour sound off the stone ground. Erik soon pulled himself up to the more level heights.  
  
Before him, lay the ruins of an old building of sorts, grown in rather badly by tight vines and other vegetation. Weather beaten marble pillars lined the front, barely visiable behind a thick blanket of foliage. Foil wings cut a clean path into the temple. "After you." Spoke the dragon, allowing Erik to pass.  
  
Erik felt as though his eyes were the first to veiw the insides of the building in a very long time, centuries perhaps. Scattered all over the granite walls are carvings depicting deities of the constructors. Erik took a moment to have a closer look at the carvings. "Erik." Chromium beckoned, drawing him away from his inspection.   
  
Erik looked into the shadows of the temple, and glowing slits of scarlet stared back. That Chromium had led him into a trap. Clicks of talon upon could be heard as the orbs approached. All around the glowing eyes, a form began to take shape as the beast emerged from the shadows. Soon the entire head could be seen. Whatever it was had a well defined jawbone and skull, reminisnant of dragons from English lore. Orbs of scarlet had faded away, revealing spheres of the purest white, containing an obsidean iris. Small elongated ears seemed tho blend into the pointed outgrowths that extended from it's cheekbones. The scales varied in hue from a shimmering ruby, to a flat blood red, to a ferrous oxide-stained quartz.  
  
"And you might be?" The great dragon clearly was addressing Erik, in a clear and deeply respectful voice. "Erik Iverson." The dragon didn't sound too aggressive, judging by the tone in his voice. "Do you know who I am, Erik?" Erik shook his head. "Chromium didn't tell you?" The red dragon spoke, slying his gaze over to the steel dragon. "No matter then. I am Salamandora, the great dragon that commands the element of fire." He said, fully stepping out from the darkness. Powerfully built muscles contracted and relaxed as he walked. Massively wide wings hung semi-outstrected around his body, rising and falling in time with step.  
  
The Ruby dragon made his way past Erik, to the Silver. "T'is been along time since we last met." Salamandora spoke loud enough so only Chromium could hear. "Any amount of time is too long for me."  
  
"Still as cynical as when we last parted." The Ruby's eyes glanced over to Erik. "Now, about the boy."  
  
"He doesn't look like much, nor is he." Chromium spoke flatly.  
  
Ruby shot back in Erik's defense. "But he is the one foretold to complete the Keter."  
  
"What proof do you have?" Words carried an aggitated tone.  
  
"We're having this fucking conversation. Shouldn't that be good enough..." Salamandora too half-shouted in rage. His patience was running out. Then it occured to him why Chromium was acting like this. "Wait a minute, you're half fearful of the implications that come with being involved in this, aren't you?"  
  
"You listen..." Salamandora cut his words short. "No, you listen to me. What is happening now goes far beyond your bullshit ideas of vengeance. If you doubt the prophecy, then I will have to give you undeniable truth." Salamandora stode over in front of Erik, swaying in a wide gait. "Erik Iverson, I hear by do challenge you to a battle of honourable means. Defeat me, and I shall join you ranks." Erik tilted his head down, crunching his brow as he reached for a selection to send in. Pijon was his first instinct, but then he realized that her attacks weren't the best suited. When dealing with talons the size of meat hooks, close range should be avoided.  
  
That for the most part left Lupus to fight. Out of the ball, her placid silver fur shone in the light. Some had begun to regrow around the old burn scar. Salamandora edged closer, releasing a swirl of flame from small oval vents on the underside of it's mouth. "Are you ready?" He asked one last time. Erik silently said yes with a curt nod.  
  
There, for the briefest of instantance, everything fell deathly quiet. The flow of time seemed come to a complete halt at that single moment. The intense fires burning in Salamandora's eyes could be seen, just before he rushed down Lupus with those jet black daggers. She turned to side step and evade the slashing claws. Not fast enough though. The heavy blades tore groves into Lupus chest, slamming her down to the ground in a slide.  
  
Deep blue energy shot from Lupus' mouth, sublimating the air into ice as it cut through. A broad wing was brought up as a shield for the Ruby dragon. His face twisted with the contact of the extremely cold frostbeam over his wing. It hissed, turning to water, and worsening the damage. Throwing his wing aside, Salamandora breathed out a large fan of flames. Still on the ground, Lupus could only watch as the firefan overwhelmed her. An intense pain drifted all over her, more intense than the what the Flamie had inflicted. She could do nothing here, pinned to the stone floor by the unending flames. Teeth gritted tightly together, before a eerie-pitched howl brust from her throat. Silver fur glimmered pale blue once. From her own body, a wall of energy formed, combatting the flames and driving them back.  
  
"So you have much more fight left in you?" Salamandora spoke, ceasing his attack. His eyes met with Lupus' through the frost-like shell. Digging into the stone floor, the dragon kicked off into the air. A series of scarlet-tinged beams shot from his mouth, deflecting off the ice barrier. His obsidean eyes slit with the final beam, the one that shattered the thin barricade. From the air he dropped down, in front of the wolf. Her eyes continued to glow in that most turquiose of shades...  
  
'Wait a minute. Her eyes were silver a moment ago.' Salamandora thought to himself. Something wasn't quite right, and he knew it. 'Going to have to do this quickly.' Talons swung out again at Lupus, right for her muzzle and head. The ice wolf countered, dropping her head down, and driving into Salamandora's chest, flipping him upward in an effort to get him onto his back.  
  
Ruby's back legs held firm, stopping him at an upright posture. He clenched a nailed fist, evidently at ease being bipedal. A swift hook caught Lupus in the side of the muzzle, throwing her into the wall, flinching on impact. She fell to the floor in a heap, still concious, though barely moving. Eyes continued to burn blue.  
  
Three spheres of energy formed in the firepit of the dragon. This would be Salamandora's final attack. Slowly in his great jaws, the orbs grew larger and took on the hue of deep blood. The two kept direct eye contact, as the Ruby unleashed his attack. Three hits utterly tore the stone wall down, scattering granite shrapnel and dust, intermixed with the tongues of naplam fire. Lupus howled out in agony, the pitch rapidly distorting, before settling down to a cry an octave or so lower. Slowly it trailed off, leaving silence, save for the showering of pebbles.  
  
Salamandora snorted a single plume of smoke, falling back onto all fours, and walked past Chromium. "What the hell did I tell you Ruby? He's not the one." Dark obisidean orbs bore down on the silver dragon. "Then be gon..." He started to speak, but was cut short by a wide beam of ice energy that shot between the two arguing dragons. Both turned their sights to the cloud of dust, now thinned out. The shadowy outline of Lupus hunched down could be clearly seen. Salamandora grinned slightly, as he turned back to continue the fight. 'Tougher than I first thought.'  
  
The silloutte lept out of the debris cloud, landing before Salamandora. It wasn't quite Lupus, but it still bore the silverest of eyes. "A Runicore." Erik whispered to himself. Her silver fur contrasted nicely to the powder blue whisps that flowed around her neck, and at the base of her wide paws. Icy white canine teeth emerged from behind her lips, as she looked down upon the Ruby dragon.  
  
Those great fangs snapped at the scaly hide of the dragon, forcing him to step back. Another beam of ice traced an arc dangerously close to the Ruby, again making him give up ground to the attacking Runicore. His tail brushed up against the stone wall. 'Have I given up that much ground?' He asked to himself. Apparently he had. And he wasn't in a very good position. "Go." Erik said only to himself under breath.  
  
With her awesome acceleration, Runicore half-tackled, half-collided into Salamandora, slamming his ribcage into the hard, unforgiving wall. Several bones splintered and snapped as she repeatedly rammed Salamandora into the stone. "That's enough." Erik ordered to Runicore. The wolf dropped the dragon's body back to the floor, stepping away from it. Salamandora did get back up, only after regaining his senses. Erik tossed a small red and white capture ball before Ruby's feet. "I acknowledge my defeat, and will join you." He said, pressing the front button, and allowing himself to enter. Runicore brought the orb over to Erik, who took the pokeball from her jaws, and put it onto his belt.  
  
*************  
  
A small campfire burned under the dark night sky. Zubattos criss-crossed around in the pitch blackness, scouping up whatever small insects they could. Erik was laid back on the cool grass, watching the tiny bats performing impossible tail-spins, dives and rolls while in pursuit of moths and such. He called out his Pijon from her ball. "Go try and catch one." He said, tossing her a shrunken down pokeball. She nodded, taking off after the Zubat.  
  
Runicore shifted around a bit in her sleep, muzzle rested on Erik's stomach. She was impressive to say the least, nearly the size of an adult male Windie, with the feriocity of a Sirius and the raw speed of a Heruga. Hard to tell just from the look of her, there sleeping atop Erik. Her silky long pair of tails swayed back and forth, in time with her dreaming perhaps. Erik smiled, stroking the fine hairs on her muzzle, falling asleep with her.  
  
Some distance away, Salamandora sat on a hill, gazing at the ruins, visiable only by the stars blocked out. 'After so long, it is time to leave. How great it feels to be away, in the company of others. And maybe, just maybe, I might run into you, my old dear...' Out of his peripheral vision, Salamandora caught Chromium slinking by. "I know you fucking well held back Ruby." He spoke, voice filled with disgust. There was no more than that out of him, as he kept on walking. Salamandora smirked. 'If you only knew Silver...'  
  
  
End Episode #15  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
Rainbow Pijott  
Like the Snow Pijon that Erik already has, this one is a Pijott with the element of Psychic. Very rare, but very worth the effort to find. Covered with multi-coloured feathers, and long trailing tail feathers, similar to Birds of Paradise.  
  
Salamandora  
The second dragon that Erik comes across. Other than that, I'm not saying much else.  
  
Runicore  
The evolution of Lupus. Normally, each wolfpack has one for a leader. Should there be two in a single group, then both battle for leadership. A very rounded fighter, with several melee and ranged attacks.  
  
Sirius  
I mentioned this one back in #07. It's the evolution of the hyena, Procyon. Based off the Cereberus of Greek mythology. Has three heads, and is very fierce. You'll see this one later on.  
  
Translations  
Nazunokusa = Oddish  
Kereihana = Bellossom  
Utsubottou = Victreebell  
Neitei = Natu  
Heruga = Houndoom 


	17. Episode #16 "All Out"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #16 "All Out"  
  
The hot and heavy heat of the jungle became almost unbearable, as Erik marched through it. A dense canopy provided no shelter from the moist heat. Erik could have sworn to himself that it wasn't this bad coming. Pouring a small amount of water from his canteen over his hair, he prayed for the skies to open up. A quick glance to the sky. Nothing but blue eternity. He sighed, wiping the sweat from his brow, and continued on.  
  
The inhabitants of the jungle watched as Erik passed, wondering what to make of him. Pavos stopped their mating dance, an Utsudon and a Kusaihana halted a squabble over a food source, and an Illusira peered through a single turret-like eye. Almost everything took time out of their daily routine, just to have a look at Erik. Doing the same, Erik looked back, deciding if any were worth capturing. 'Hmm. That Illusira up there looks good.' He thought to himself, calling out Runicore. "Go get him."  
  
Her heavy talons sunk into the ebony bark of the tree as she leapt onto it, fighting gravity to maintain position. Canines flashed toward the chameleon. A swift shot of ice knocked the reptile off its perch. Down toward the ground his fell, tail moving under him. Waves of telekenetic energy flowed from the sapphire tail orb, slowing the descent to a stand still. Gently, triple toed feet met with the grassy blades. Runicore snarled, dropping down from the tree. Like the wind, she rushed down her opponent. Softly, the Illusira phased out of sight.  
  
'So that's the Camofaze I've heard of. Interesting...' Erik thought to himself. Runicore dug into the earth, forcing a stop. It had been there just a moment ago. A two metre chameleon doesn't disappear like that. An unseen force struck Runicore across the snout, drawing a few deep wounds. Illusira's tail mace, cloaked out of sight. Retalliations of an ice beam meant nothing against an undetectable force.  
  
"Zubatto, Leech Life." The artic wolf, for all her melee skills, was at a distinct disadvantage without a visual on the target. Zubatto, on the other hand, was a creature of the pitch, and didn't have reliance on sight to 'see.' Diving down, the blue-green bat attacked, sinking razor fangs into firm nothingness. With a shock, the Illusira phased back to reality, and was meet by a crushing blow from Runicore. Unable to defend itself in away, the Illusira was thrown back by the take-down, crashing down onto it's side. A red and white ball flew through the air, sucking the downed chameleon in with scarlet energy. It fell to the ground with the ding of a successful capture.  
  
*************  
  
Beautiful purple pendants, flags and streamers flew from every possible attachment on the stadium. Erik had seen the impressive sight from quite some distance. Everything and everyone was gearing up for tomorrow, the day of the competition's last bout. As he walked through the stadium parking lot, workers skillfully moved themselves around Erik with their cargoes of various descriptions. The order of the chaos was most impressive.  
  
Double doors automatically slid open for Erik as he approached, though he was slightly delayed by two men passing through with a beam of sorts. Breathing a sigh of relief, Erik stepped into the main lobby. It looked more or less like it did before, excluding the banners, decorations and what not. Then again, Erik never got to have a good look at the main lobby during the first few hours of his arrival.  
  
For the most part, it had a similar theme to that of the remainder of the complex, only more elaborate. Palm trees, or miniature versions of, lined around the open expance of the loby. Tracing along a arced rafter to the peak of a dome, Erik looked upon delicately carved designs in the wood. Five such rafters terminated at a common place in the top of the dome, underneight a pentagonal glass skylight.  
  
Through the clear glass, he could see the cloud-less skies beyond. A faint spray of mist drew his attention downward, to the central fountian in the lobby. A pool of water, surrounded by white marble and grey shale, lay below the skylight. The mist of the fountain falling back into the pool formed ribbons of colour.  
  
In front of the fountain pool was a small group of people, gathered around an oak podium. One of the people noticed Erik, and beckoned him to join. Thinking it important, Erik walked over. He really didn't have much else to do anyway.  
  
"Ok, I think that's everyone." Said the man at the podium. "As you all know, the final round of competition is tomorrow morning. And so now, we have to draw lots to determine the order of entry." He produced a black top hat from the stand. "In this hat are ten numbered balls, from #1 to #10, of which will determine when you participate in battle. This is all random, and you all have the same chance of drawing #10, the final entry number." He continued on in his speech, stirring up the numbered balls with his free hand. "Now, I only see it fitting that the last to arrive is the first to draw, so that would be you sir..." The black hat was presented in front of Erik. Cracking his knuckles, Erik put his hand in, routed through the balls for a moment til his satisfaction, and pulled out a forest green orb, looked at it before giving it light toss back to the official.  
  
"No. #7, not bad."  
  
*************  
  
Staring up at the off-white stuco ceiling, Erik rested on the soft bed. Closing his eyes for a few moments, he worked on what fighter to go with in the morning. Moderately worn out described all those attached to his belt, and if they actually had some stamina, it was experience they were lacking. Selection, in his mind, was down to a pair, Runicore, or the Ruby Dragon. Erik was worried primarily on Runi. Worst case scenario would mean she would have to go through six seperate fighters, which very well could attack her at the same time in an effort to take her out as quickly as possible. Pijon's opening round display of power may have attracted undue attention.  
  
Salamandora, on the other hand, had the capacity of flight. He could escape to the air when the melee on the ground became too hazardous. And for the most part, aerial units were somewhat weak... except for a Gayarados or Lizardon. "Time for a calculated gamble I suppose..." Erik muttered so only he could hear. Reaching down, he popped the capture ball off the belt, releasing out the great Ruby dragon.  
  
"Goodnight, Master Erik." He spoke in a pleasant tone, obsidean eyes shining faintly in a colour similar to that of his scale armour. "Just call me Erik Salamandora..." Erik responded, just a bit embarrassed about Salamandora's level of formality. A smirk came across the Ruby's face. "...and you can call me, Salamand." He half snorted a laugh, faint whisps of smoke escaping his nostrils. "So, what can I do you for, Erik. You seem to have something on your mind as of now."  
  
Erik sat up on his bed. "As a matter of fact, I kinda do have a few things I want to ask you."  
  
"Being what?"  
  
"Well..." He shifted his position, sitting off the side of the bed. "...I was interested in what kind of attacks and techniques you have, considering we're going to need a strategy for this match I have..." One of Salamand's eyebrows raised questionably. "Match?"  
  
"You did say not too long ago that you *were* going to assist me if I beat you, and that's what exactly what Runi did to you, so...." Sighing a bit too hard, Ruby turned his head away, slying his eyes from Erik's. "Hell, even that disrespectful Chromium helped me. Mind you it was at the last moment, but you should have seen how he did it. Took at full health Kairyuu down to nearly nothing with a..." He holds his hands out, about a metre apart. "...big blue-white beam about this big." The other eyebrow lept, as his jaw went in the reverse direction. A thought ran through his mind for a split-instant, before he regained his composure. "Really now?"  
  
"Yea. I was wondering if you could do anything like that." Salamand rose up a bit, taking a bipedal stance. "Well, I'm not as good with attacks of that particular nature as Chromium is, but I do have other strong points." And so began the discussion that crept deep into the heated night. Like a C.O. and his infantry in a briefing room, so were Erik and Salamand. All things about attack patterns, offensive tactics, and defensive strategies were thought of, using the desk drawer nearby and loose coinage for a model. With the sun's dawning, the topic of discussion changed, to that of trading old war stories, half in hopes of remembering a set of moves that worked well before, and half in hopes of becoming better friends.  
  
But, as the conversation died down, and Erik headed off for breakfast, the two had questions that couldn't be answered at that point in time. Erik had the notion that, while Salamand *was* more open than Chromium, he wasn't being entirely honest about everything, as if he were hiding... no more like shielding Erik from the information he had. As odd as it seemed, that's how Erik felt. Of course he had no proof what so ever, only a feeling, and that wasn't nearly enough to confront Ruby with. For now, he would just have to wait, and let things come out on their own.  
  
As for Salamandora, out on the room's deck, things were going through his mind. The attack that Erik described was one of Chromium's most powerful, one that should not have been used. Just like his own high level attacks, they had been sealed away along time ago. Nothing that Salamand did would break that seal, yet, one so closely linked to him did it with ease. So was it something about him in particular that temporarily weakened that seal for those in his presense? Shaking his head, he really didn't know what to make of it all, only that in a few hours he might know for certain.  
  
*************  
  
"Kamekkaisu, use your Ice Beam!" The heavy shelled turtle dropped down onto all fours, opening the turrets on his back, and fired a pair of thinly veined beams of frost at the unsuspecting Goron. Layers of ice formed across it's rocky surface, breaking off chunks wherever cracks, natural or otherwise, existed. A Hyper Beam from the aerial Rizardon shattered both the ice and what remained of the granite armour of the Goron, putting it out of combat. Nasshii, which had been battling in alliance with Goron, was struck with the flying shrapnel of ice and stone, digging into the bark of it's body. On a scoreboard high above the stadium, the light went out around the portrait of the stony Goron. And that was his que.  
  
The dull hiss of the steel door sliding open, followed by the rush of cool wind, bright sunlight, and the roar of the crowd hit Erik's senses all at once as he marched out onto his platform overlooking the battlefield. Before, at the Blue League, his nerves were racked at the onset of the first big matches. Now, his eyes, his face, even the way he held himself as he walked showed no sides of weakness, just raw determination and pure concentration. His right hand gripped the red and white capture sphere everso tightly, loosening only to hurl it headlong into the arena.  
  
Pure garnet energy forged the great Ruby dragon in midair. Broad scaled wings beat powerfully, keeping Salamand in a cyclic hover pattern. Erik's eyes shifted toward the injured Nasshii to his right. With the hard look not subsiding, he snapped his fingers and pointed in a quick, fluid motion. As if controlled by wires, Salamand followed his exact movements, sniping a blood ruby pillar of flames at the Nasshii, critically wounding the already battered creature into darkness.  
  
Dark colbalt irises crept over to the left, along with the slight pivot of his neck. Three wordless actions followed; a point of the index finger to the trainer across from him, then a point to himself with the thumb, and finally a flick of the wrist to the Kamex. Though not a sound was exchanged, the message was a clear as daylight. "Rizardon, Hyper Beam!"  
  
The dragon pair forged off both of their beams at the same time, Rizardon his dark amber energy, and Salamand his opaque white energy. Not even the withdraw into the shell could save the Kamekkaisu as the two beams tore through the air, contacting at a common focal point. Heavy cracking accompanied the slamming of the turtle into the concrete walls. And that was the end of his battle.  
  
Yet the two could not even manage a quick celebration on their defeat of Kamekkaisu, when an Onidoriru streaked between them, striking a glancing blow to Rizardon's chest. The great beast whinced from the sharp scratch, making a swipe with his claws at the bird, though connecting only with air. Half spinning, the carrion bird back flapped once, stopping to a halt. Rizardon's eyes locked in on the bird, taking off after it.  
  
Salamand though of going to assist, that was until a blade of electrical energy cut through the afternoon air. It caught him entirely off guard, filling him with a numbing sensation before the energy tripped an arc with the near edge of the arena. From him to the metal ran a wire thin finger, eminating the sound that could only be described as part-way between a crack and a crunch. Waves of red hot pain washed through out his body. A sudden rush of a stimulus triggered the flow of adrenaline, dulling the pain and fueling the combat high. From his jaws welled a ball of energy, which he fired in the general area of the attack.  
  
The ball impacted a solid mass inflight, compressing, then detonating. A cloud of dust erupted from ground zero, and shards of a fallen light screen shattered into the air, fading away. From the debris emerged a magenta Mokoko, unscathed by the energy ord, but somewhat exhausted because of blocking it. Salamand dropped down onto the ground, ready to wage a terrestrial assault on the pint-sized sheep.  
  
His hard talons ripped up the compacted sand surface of the arena floor on his rush to Mokoko. The sheep went for a quick thunderpunch. Sharp cracklings of energy brushed up against Salamand's face as he barely sidestepped the attack, and countered with a blow of his wing. A hard impact from the broad wing sent the bipedal sheep to the ground. Salamand was quickly on top of him, clenching a fist, and rendered it unconious with a shot to the head.  
  
Looking back up, Salamand saw that the Rizardon engaged in battle. The fire lizard had already dispensed with the Onidoriru, and was now having a waltz with a Kairosu. Battle damage was evident on both, or from what Salamand could see of Kairosu, as his studded claws were wrapped firmly around Rizardon's chest from behind.  
  
Salamand knew exactly what to do. Opening his mouth, flames poured from the firepits under the roof of his mouth. A river of heat spilled around Rizardon and Kairosu. The winged lizard felt very little due to his element. However, Kairosu was another matter. Bits and pieces of his carapace began to degrade under the furnace of Salamand. A split ran the left side crusher claw, and that was the literal break that Rizardon needed. Pushing out with his powerful chest muscles, the flame lizard broke free of the ViceGrip, littering the field with broken bits of the crusher claw. A heavy slam of the tail finished the bug.  
  
And the two turned to each other. Upto this point, the two had helped each other in defeating the opposition. Now, they had to fight, and neither had any intention of losing. Salamand was the first to take up the offensive. Driving his claws into the sand, he lunged at the orange dragon, slashing wih deadly talons. Rizardon stepped back, creating a slap of wind to knock Ruby off balance. Being so heavy, the gust attack never budged him an inch off his course. Ruby's black talons sliced into flesh. Roaring in pain, Rizardon slammed his fists like an axe into Salamand's back. Salamand returned the favour, ramming his shoulder against Rizardon's stomach, the crest further opening the wounds. Rizardon finally broke the close range combat with a hard knee blow, driving Salamand away on his back.  
  
To say who was doing better was anyone's guess. Both were exhausted, beaten and battered. Open wounds dripped onto the combatants, hardly noticable because their colours anyway, though the streaks on the ground said otherwise. Salamand slowly rose back to his feet, sand running off his wings, leaving them looking more beige than near-black red.  
  
"Dragon Rage!" Shouted the Rizardon's trainer, the first actual order in a long time. Intense blue white flames shot from the beast's mouth. Salamand dug in his claws as the oddly behaving fire scorched and burned. The other trainer half hopped in glee, for he had found something that Salamand was weak against. "That's it, now pour it on!" The Rizardon advanced closer, bringing the intensity of the Dragon Rage nearer. Salamand tried to defend with his broad wings, but the orange dragon grabbed ahold of them. Stepping on his head, Rizardon pinned the mighty Ruby down to the ground. As the blue fire flowed over him, Salamand felt the darkness gradually take hold...  
  
His obsidean eyes rose up to Erik, one hand grasping the rail, and the other clenched. He wasn't shouting at all, only his expression was conveying words of "Get up" and so on. Ruby's grit his teeth, and felt his chest tighten in the hopelessness of his situation. 'Erik... I'm sorry...' Salamand's heart suddenly jumped rhythms, beating faster and harder. From deep down came a burning feeling, combating and defeating the pain of the Dragon Rage. 'He... is..." Strenght renewed, Salamand forced up against Rizardon's pinning force, shocking the fire lizard who had thought the dragon was nearly out.  
  
A shell of fire exploded from the dragon's body, sending the Rizardon flying. Thin veils of red lingered for a moment, as Salamand rose back up, his eyes burning scarlet. Rizardon crawled away, still on his back, terrified of Salamand. Streams of energy collected into Salamand's jaws, sounding like the dull roar of a jet-turbine intake. Sheer power, an old feeling, had returned to him for this one shot. Sinking in claws into the ground for support against the recoil of the tremendous blast.  
  
With one clean war-cry, Salamand released the pent up energy. In a vain attempt to escape, the Rizardon pushed itself back with it's legs. But there was no escape. A split-moment after contacting the wall, a great explosion filled the air. Shockwaves ripped through-out the stadium, shattering large glass panels, and knocking the two trainers down to the ground. Chunks of debris rained back down upon the Rizardon, half-buried in the rubble was once was the east side wall.  
  
Salamand collapsed then and there onto the sand. His breaths were fast, hard, and unstable. All over, his body ached and trembled, as if he had ran a marathon distance. He closed his eyes once. Exhaustion was so bad, even his eyelids felt like metric tonnes, and could not find the strenght to open them as he drifted off into darkness...  
  
"Salamand, wake up!" Were the first words the great Ruby heard as the darkness gave way to light... He tried to rise, only to find his muscles of no use. "Woah, take it easy there Salamand. Just stay still for a moment."  
  
Again, his eyes felt shut, though this time he remained concious. "How long was I out for?"  
  
"Not too long... You shouldn't push yourself that hard Salamand." Erik said as he knelt beside Salamand. A slight grin crept arcoss the dragon's face. "Sorry Erik... I didn't have much of a choice in the matter..."  
  
Erik nodded, not catching the double-meaning of Salamand's words. "Had to go all out for the win... heh." He took a single capture ball off his belt, and pressed it against Salamand's hard scales. "Here, you've deserved this rest."  
  
*************  
  
"Sir, would you like another drink?" Asked the flight attendant, with a smile on her face. Erik passed her his glass, filled only with ice and a straw. "Sure."  
  
"It'll be just one moment sir." She said, taking the glass. Erik stretched out in the reclined airliner seat. It felt good to be off his feet after a hard day's work. Out the window, the last bits of shoreline could be seen through the cloud cover. Reaching into his pocket, Erik pulled out a leather bound case, just a bit bigger than the size of his hand. Opening it up revealed two metallic coins, both larger than two-dollar coins; one was a sapphire blue, and the other was a deep purple. Both lay there, held in indentations in the pitch black suade. The president of the Purple League had given it to him after the tournament was over, saying that the Blue League had sent it down, seeing as how Erik never bothered to pick it up.  
  
Taking out the Blue League coin, Erik marveled at the quality of the mint. Struck cleanly into one side was the relief of a capture ball. On the reverse was a highly detailed imprint of the North American continent. Every twist and turn of the coastline was neatly etched into the metal, catching the like and reflecting it about. Gently, he placed the coin back into it's rightful place, and returned the case to the inside pocket of his jacket.  
  
Reclining into the seat, Erik got himself comfortable for the long flight.  
  
  
End Episode #16  
  
Pokemon Report  
*-----*-----*-----*  
Illusira  
While slow moving, and lacking dangerously in physical strenght, Illusira more than makes up for this in powerful defensive techniques, including the awe-inspiring Camofaze, which renders it totally invisible to sight. 


	18. Episode #17 "The Third"

Glory's Long Road: Episode #17 "The Third"  
  
A calm ocean breeze blew in over the land, playing with the great canopies of the tall palm trees, and rustled Erik's dark blue hair, depositing it own into his vision. Taking a black bandana from his pack, he tied it around his forehead, pushing the long locks out of his eyes.  
  
Walking down the road, he stretched his arms, reaching up for the sky. It was a perfect day to be out, with the sun in full view, and not a cloud in the sky. Erik couldn't have asked for more, especially after spenting time in the excessively muggy tropical rainforest. This place reminded him of home, just a bit warmer though. Even the saline scent in the air was similar.  
  
Erik was in the Orange Islands, a chain a few hundred kilometres off the coast of Japan. Despite it's rather small size, it held one of the seven major leagues of the world. Perhaps the reason for that, was it was formed by ex-champs of the Indigo League, back in the Fifties. Five islands were home to the descendants of the original five founding members.  
  
Fairan Island was the first of the four gyms he had to defeat in order to face the leader of the Orange League in a one-on-one bout. Reaching into the sidepocket on his pack, Erik took out a thin handguide he had picked up at the airport, along with a set of silver blue shades.  
  
Flipping through the pages, he came to a two page map of the island chain. Clearly marked out onto the map was the locales of the five islands, of which Erik quickly made a mental note of, before turning the page. A few good bits of information about the league. No set elements for gyms... Erik cringed slightly, knowing just about anything could be tossed his way. Some of the gym leaders have pokemon that are directly related to the founding ansectors. 'Oh perfect, champion bloodline to contend with.' Erik thought to himself.  
  
Turning down a few pages, Erik came to the map of Fairan Island. Hmm, he wasn't all that far from the docks where the gym leader usually held the matches. In fact, through dark blue lenses, Erik could see the pier, crowded with people, perhaps watching a bout. Tossing the guide back into the backpack, Erik picked up the pace.  
  
Getting to the pier was one thing, making one's way through the crowds was another. All along the boardwalk, were merchants selling their wares, and countless other booths and shops. Slowly making his way down the crowded walkway, Erik could hear the sounds of battle, and the onlookers reactions. Erik finally managed to break through the crowd as the match finished up.  
  
"So, who wants some?!" Shouted the resident gym leader, as she tossed back her pale ruby hair in triumph. The crowd uneasily backed down from the challenge... cowards. "Right here." Erik said stepping out of the crowd, his voice full of confidence, pulling a pokeball off the belf of his khaki shorts. "Well then," She said, pulling off her wind breaker, leaving her in a white tank top. "Looks like I might actually break a sweat with you. The name's Chirssy, just incase you wanna beg for mercy... like the other guy did." She smirked, sending out her pokemon. "Go, Azra." Red energy took the shape of a slender seabird, plumed in pale shades of the sea, green and blue. A creamy shade accented the bird's underwings, and tail feathers. "An Aqua Pijott." Erik whispered to himself.  
  
"You like?" Chrissy questioned. "This was an offspring of my grandmother's. She beat the Indigo League with an Aqua, and I'm gonna kick your sorry butt with mine, so consider yourself lucky." She spoke the last four words with such arrogence, Erik felt he had to beat her, badly. "So, you want an air battle do you?" He said, castiing out his Pijon. Ice crystals shimmered in the afternoon light.  
  
"An Artic?" Chrissy said to herself, holding back her amazement. Perhaps she had underestimated her foe, for having such a pokemon told her that he was not an amateur. "Azra, Bubblebeam." The aqua shot out a stream of tightly packed bubbles, which the artic froze over with a few flaps of her wings. Orbs of thin ice fell to the boardwalk, shattering. Attacking back, the Artic let loose with braided ice beam. Sideflapping in the air, Azra dodged the move.  
  
Indirect combat was proving to be ineffective considering the agility of the two birds. "Go for a Razor Wind." She shouted. Azra's wings glowed for a brief instant, as she drew them back. Erik snapped his fingers, signalling to move in for a fast strike. Tucking her wings in close to her body, the artic dashed at the aqua as it struck out with the Razor Wind. Hard air slammed into the artic, blowing off tufts of feathers as she collided with the aqua.  
  
"Grab onto it Azra." With the two birds meshed together so tightly, Chrissy's Aqua Pijott latched onto the Artic with her long slightly webbed feet. Giving a fast half tackle, the aqua got the offending artic off her, and stunning it slightly in the process. Shifting around her weight in midair, the aqua hurled the smaller Pijon to the boardwalk surface. "Now finish it, BubbleSpray." Flaring her light golden and blue crest, Azra generated a thick burst of heavy water bubbles, that sounded like pieces of fragile rocks shattering as they struck the boardwalk.  
  
The artic Pijon was slow to arise from the devestating set of attacks. Erik felt a tightening in sensation in his chest as his Pijon turned back to face Chrissy and her Azra. "Water..." She hesitated for a moment, looking into the Snow Pijon's eyes. Chrissy could have sworn she saw a slight glow or something. Shaking it off, she finished the command. "...Gun." A mini-torrent of water shot from Azra's mouth. Pijon's eyes flared a light blue. "What the hell?" Chrissy asked herself mentally, as a sphere of ice went around the artic, blocking the flood of water.  
  
A shrill cry erupted from dome of ice as it fell to the ground. Those same eyes bore down on Chrissy. "It evolved..." She barely whispered to herself. Gone was the icy blue plumage of the immature stages, replaced by a stricking, sterling white, very faintly tinged blue. Deep blue and black accented her trailing flight feathers, crest and tail feathers. Taking to the air was a breeze, hovering by powerful double wings, fanning her crest in an aggressive manner.  
  
'That's almost as big as an Aquila...' Her eyes glanced over to her Pijott, easily outsized by the Artic. Never before had she seen a Pijott as big, and impressive. 'That's gotta be a male for sure.' She assumed. "Azra, try Attract." Her seabird nodded, flaring her crest up slightly. The Artic paid no attention as she flew into Azra hard. "An Attract isn't going to work, because I don't think my Artic is a lesbian." Erik said with a grin on his face, much to Chrissy's embrassment. Her face turned a shade of red. "Steel Wing." The Aqua's wing took a metallic sheen for a split-second, swing it down for a strike. Artic countered, blocking the blow with a wing of her own.  
  
Her heavy talons gripped onto the Aqua's slender limbs. The second she felt the muscular feet clasping around, she paniced, flailing about. But, it did no good, as the Artic had a good 5kgs on her. The Artic barely budged in the air, even with the frantics of Chrissy's Azra.  
  
Throwing her weight around, the Artic twisted over in mid-air, throwing the hapless Azra to the wooden boardwalk. She came down on the surface hard, bouncing off it once, and skidded to a halt.  
  
Chrissy recalled her fallen Aqua. "Here." She pulled a conche-like badge out of her pocket, and tossed it over to Erik. "Now get out of here."  
  
*************  
  
Rapurasu squeeled with delight as the gentle waves splashed up against her smooth skin. Erik was sprawled out on her hard shell saddle. Beside him, Salamand was wrapped around one of the spires. Pijott was flying through the air, leaving a trail of ice crystals in her wake. Reaching out, he stroked Rapurasu's sleek skin of her neck. Nothing could be seen around, just the sea meeting the sky, and a few faint outlines of islands. Fairan was long gone from sight. Erik quickly scanned through the frequencies on a small radio he had bough before he left. Coming to a station that interested him, he laid in on his stomach, and rested his arms under his head.  
  
"It's a good day out, isn't it?" Salamand said, uncurling himself from around the column. He stood up on his back legs, stretching out, cracking a few joints in his wings and back. "It is." Erik replied, tossing his blue shades back on, with the sun coming out from behind a cloud. "Hope it stays like this for the rest of the trip."  
  
  
  
"Where are we off to next?"  
"Cerosa Island, though it's about a ten hour trip. We won't make it before nightfall, so I'm gonna stop over at an atoll roughly halfway." Salamand's claws gripped around a spire, as he glanced around the horizon. Erik watched the Ruby's scanning of the straight horizon. "You have somewhere you need to be around here?" Salamand broke his search off for a moment. "I'm where I'm supposed to be Erik." He said in a cryptic, sage-like tone. Erik tilted his head back, staring at blue infinity. "Why do you think where here Salamand?"  
  
  
  
Salamand let one claw fall away from the spike. He hadn't expected such a question from Erik, not now atleast. "well..." He said slowly. "That's a difficult question to answer. You can only set theories about it." Erik sat up. "I know it's hard to come to explanation. But it's in our nature as intelligent beings to question what it is 'to be,' right?" Salamand nodded. "Perhaps it's just destiny that things are the way they are." Erik slowly nodded. "You, me, your family, your rivals, everything and everyone. We all have a role to play in the grand scheme of things.  
  
  
  
"That could be true, but how did the writing of destiny begin, and by who? Fate and destiny do exist, but it's not something preordaned by a higher being that we can never comprehend. I believe that the weavers of destiny, are ourselves. We are the masters of our own fate." He took off his shades, resting his hand on a bent knee. "Maybe that's the reason I'm here, is because I wanted to be here." A slight wind blew through the mid-afternoon air.  
  
  
  
"Or maybe, we decide on our own free will, to walk the path made so very long ago." Salamand gripped the spire again with two claws, and returned to looking out over the waters. "Perhaps long ago, it was said that me and Chromium where to be brought together, and you decided to travel down that road." He shifted his eyes back to Erik for a moment. "But whatever the reason, I'm glad to have met you Erik, and to have shared the same path with you." Slipping on the shades, Erik smiled. 'It's just I don't know where this destiny will lead you to Erik...'  
  
  
  
The two remained quiet for a few minutes. Pijott landed on Erik's shoulder, surprising him with her weight. He stroked her slender beak, as he rummaged around in his backpack for a piece of fruit to feed her. Salamand shut his eyes, trying to sense something that could not be seen. 'Where are you Aquamarine?'  
  
  
  
'I'm right here before you Ruby.' Spoke a leering voice inside of Salamand's mind. He dropped back a bit in shock. "What's the matter Salamand?" The wise old dragon ignored Erik, focusing in on the voice, and where it was coming from. The water ahead of Rapurasu broke violently, startling her. Coming to a sudden halt, Erik was thrown frontwards, with Pijott taking to the sky. Only Salamand remained unfazed. "What the hell?" Were the first words Erik shouted when he got back onto his feet. He swallowed tightly when he saw it.  
  
Hovering just above the water was a slender sea-dragon, wrapped lightly over itself. Barely was it five metres in lenght, with two pairs of broad fins around both ends. It's sleek blue skin shone in the sun. Sharp was the look of it's head and face, with bright yellow crests flowing behind it's head.  
  
"Leviathan..." Salamand spoke in a hard tone, as his eyes fell into slits. He fanned his great wings, and took off into the air. His claws clenched into great hammers. Leviathan arched an eyebrow. "It this the way to greet an old friend?"  
  
"To hell with you Leviathan." He said, full of rage, breathing out a beam of energy. The lance of light impacted, drawing a spray of blood, and sending a wave through the water. Leviathan grimaced from the pain. The sea-dragon's faint amethyst eyes flared, as he returned fire. Salamand nimbly avoided the hyper beam. "I don't have any friends that are traitors." Salamand roared. "Me, a traitor?" Leviathan replied with a question. Great surges of water sprang from the surface of the ocean. Salamand had to exert himself to avoid the damagind element. "You're only a traitor if you rely on someone else."  
  
Salamand barrel rolled to avoid another few columns, and made a rush for Leviathan. "Stop thinking about yourself for once dammit." He slashed Leviathan, scoring lines in his face. "What is so wrong with doing so?" Leviathan bore his sharp fangs, striking them across Salamand chest, ripping flesh ad sending blood flying. "We all have to think of only ourselves sometimes." Leviathan spat out the blood from his fangs. "That's how we make it through our days. And I know you've done it too, so don't look down on me for doing it." Salamand hung in the air, barely keeping himself in the air.  
  
"Umm, what is going on here?" Erik said, after watching the two dragons clash. Aquamarine glanced to Erik. "You with him?" He asked. Erik hesitated for a moment. "I am." He wasn't sure what to expect with that answer. Leviathan bowwed his head. He wasn't expecting that. "Excuse that, just a spat between old friends." He grinned Salamand, who gave him a non-verbal reply of an upright digit.  
  
"I am Leviathan, dragon of the seas." Leviathan introduced himself to Erik. "I'm sure Salamandora has spoken much of me. And since Salamandora is with you, it is my obligation to join you, isn't that right Ruby?" The only sound was the grinding of teeth. "Well, I guess it's ok." Erik held up a capture ball. "Welcome to the team.*  
  
*************  
  
Nighttime  
Makuroza Island  
  
  
Long had darkness fallen upto the island, and Erik was asleep, near a smoldering stack of logs. Nobody was awake on the atoll that was to serve as a stop-over, except for Salamand. Walking through the palm grove, he reflected on the days events. Three of the dragons had been gathered. Was he walking the foretold path, laid down by Emerald so long ago? If so, would he be strong enough to...  
  
"Hello there Salamandora." The sleek sea-dragon lowered himself down from a palm tree, disturbing Salamand from his thoughts. "OUt for a late night stroll?" He ignored the sea-dragon, continuing to walk. "Don't do this to me Sala..."  
  
Ruby whipped around, snapping at the dragon in the tree. "Just shut the hell up Leviathan. I don't have shit to say to you." Leviathan stopped for a moment, taking a breath. "Is it because of back then?" Salamand stopped dead in his tracks, turning his full body around. "Why did you side with the Divine during the war?"  
  
"Why not? Aquamarine chuckled, much to Salamand's displeasure. "Besides, you know how much of a loose cannon I am. The Divine offered me power, and so I took it." Shaking his head, Salamand spoke. "Damn merc... putting yourself above others."  
  
"I did exactly what you did Salamand, siding with the one you thought would give you the best chance of surviving. The thing is, we picked differently." Salamand sighed deeply. "The only difference is, we sided with different factions, right?" Ruby nodded, albeit a bit forced. "But now, we're on the same side."  
  
"How do I know you won't betray us like before?" Ruby said with concern in his voice. Leviathan looked at him through the near pitch blackness. "Is there another side to go to Ruby?"  
  
"True..." Leviathan slid back up into the palm tree's canopy. "Sorry about what happened this afternoon." He said just before he fell off to sleep. "Don't worry about it." Salamand spoke to the silent sea-dragon, before slinking off into the night.  
  
  
End Episode #17 


End file.
